Jerusalem

Jerusalem
History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture
by Galyn Wiemers
Last Hope Books and Publications A division of Generation Word Bible Teaching Ministry
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Jerusalem: History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture Copyright 2010 by Galyn Wiemers. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America by Signature Book Printing. www.sbpbooks.com Last Hope Books and Publications A Division of Generation Word Bible Teaching Ministry P.O. Box 399 Waukee, Iowa 50263 Visit www.generationword.com All scripture passages are from the New International Version Cover design by Clint Hansen Editing by Tim Vaniman Photos by Galyn Wiemers and Toni Wiemers ISBN-13: 978-0-9794382-3-3 ISBN-10: 0-9794382-3-3
Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture
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This book is dedicated to my wife Toni. . .

Toni, I look for you in every photo!
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section A Introduction to Jerusalem Chapter 1 Biblical Jerusalem Chapter 2 History of Jerusalem Chapter 3 Modern Jerusalems Old City Chapter 4 The Modern Walls Chapter 5 The Modern Gates Chapter 6 Archaeology: Periods, People and History Chapter 7 The History of Archaeology in Jerusalem Section B Topography Chapter 8 Old Ancient Core Chapter 9 Kidron Valley Chapter 10 Central Valley Chapter 11 Hinnom Valley Chapter 12 Mount of Olives Chapter 13 Mount Moriah Chapter 14 Western Hill Chapter 15 Opel Section C Old Testament Chapter 16 Salem, Jebus, Jerusalem (2000-1000 BC) Chapter 17 The Milo and the Jebusite Wall (2000-1000 BC) Chapter 18 Gihon Springs Chapter 19 City of David (1000 BC) Chapter 20 Davids Palace (990 BC) Chapter 21 Solomons Temple Mount (970 BC) Chapter 22 Solomons Walls Chapter 23 Solomons Quarries Chapter 24 The Broad Wall (721 BC, Assyrian Destruction of North Israel) Chapter 25 Hezekiahs Tunnel (701 BC, Assyrian Invasion of Judah) Chapter 26 Middle Gate (586 BC, Babylonian Destruction) Chapter 27 Nehemiahs Wall (445 BC, Exiles Return to Rebuild Temple, City)
1 17 20 23 32 41 42
45 49 50 51 54 56 57 58
59 61 66 70 72 75 78 80 83 85 91 92
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Section D Macabees and Hasmoneans (167-40 BC, Revolt & Independence) Chapter 28 Walls and Towers Chapter 29 Aqueduct Chapter 30 Acra Chapter 31 Hasmonean Temple Mount Extension Chapter 32 Tombs in the Kidron Section E New Testament Chapter 33 Herods Building Projects and Ashlar Stones Chapter 34 Herods Temple Mount Chapter 35 Northeast End of Eastern Temple Mount Wall Chapter 36 Southeast End of Eastern Temple Mount Wall Chapter 37 Western Wall of Temple Chapter 38 Western Wall Tunnels Chapter 39 Mikvah, the Ritual Baths Chapter 40 The Large Mikvah Chapter 41 Wilsons Arch Chapter 42 Warrens Gate Chapter 43 Barclays Gate Chapter 44 Robinsons Arch Chapter 45 Western Wall Street Chapter 46 Western Wall Shops Chapter 47 Southern Wall: Double Gate, Triple Gate, Stair Steps, Single Gate Chapter 48 Archaeology on the Ophel (Jerusalem Archaeology Park) Chapter 49 Siloam Road Chapter 50 Siloam Pool Chapter 51 Pool of Bethesda Chapter 52 Church of the Holy Sepulcher Chapter 53 Garden Tomb Chapter 54 Fort Antonia Chapter 55 Phasael Tower Chapter 56 Struthion Pool Chapter 57 Garden of Gethsemane Chapter 58 Tombs in Hinnom Chapter 59 Tombs in Jerusalem
94 97 98 99 100
104 110 114 115 119 123 132 133 134 136 137 138 141 146 150 161 166 171 176 180 198 201 204 205 206 207 208
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Section F Roman, Muslim and Crusader Periods Chapter 60 Ecce Homo (Roman) Chapter 61 Roman Inscription Chapter 62 Cardo (Roman) Chapter 63 Roman Road by Western Wall Plaza Eastern Cardo (Roman) Chapter 64 Nea Church (Byzantine) Chapter 65 Al Aqsa Mosque (Muslim) Chapter 66 Dome of the Rock (Muslim) Chapter 67 Muslim Temple Mount (Muslim) Chapter 68 St. Annes Church (Crusader) Chapter 69 Sultans Pool (Herodian, Roman, Muslim) Chapter 70 Citadel (Hasmonean, Herodian, Roman, Byzantine, Muslim, Crusader, Later Muslim) Section G Chapter 71 A Treasure Map Chapter 72 The Future of Jerusalem Bibliography
209 210 212 214 215 219 221 226 235 238 239
242 248 252
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Section A: Introduction to Jerusalem

Chapter One
Biblical Jerusalem
Melchizedek, or Melchi-Zedek, was from the royal line of the Canaanite or Jebusite priest-kings who ruled Jerusalem and served God on Mount Moriah. Later in Genesis 22:2 Abraham would return to Mount Moriah just north of Jerusalem to offer his son Isaac as a sacriice to God. God told Abraham: Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacriice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about. - Genesis 22:2 This same place, Mount Moriah, was identiied in 2 Chronicles 3:1 as the plot of ground that David purchased with his own money from Araunah the Jebusite. It was also identiied as the place Solomon would build the temple. In 2000 BC Jerusalem and Mount Moriah were the center of worship of the God Most High (El-Elyon), since this was the residence of his priest-king Melchizedek and the place to which God had led Abraham for worship. When Joshua led the Israelites into the land of Canaan in 1405 BC, one of Melchizedeks descendents, a man named Adoni-Zedek, was still ruling in Jerusalem: Now Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had taken Ai and totally destroyed it, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and that the people of Gibeon had made a treaty of peace with Israel and were living near them. He and his people were very much alarmed at this, because Gibeon was an important city, like one of the royal cities; it was larger than Ai, and all its men were good ighters. So Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem appealed to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish and Debir king of Eglon: Come up and help me attack Gibeon, he said, because it has made peace with Joshua and the Israelites. - Joshua 10:1-5
The city David took from the Jebusites in 1005 BC was about 10 acres in size with a population of about 2,000.
Jerusalem in 1000 BC
The irst mention of Jerusalem in the Bible is found in Genesis 14:18 in the account of Abrams encounter with Melchizedek, the king of Salem (that is, Jerusalem): After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the Kings Valley) (probably where the Kidron and Hinnom Valleys meet). Then Melchizedek king of Salem (Jerusalem) brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand. Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. - Genesis 14:17-20
Introduction to Jerusalem 2
Later in Joshua 12:10, Adoni-Zedek the king of Jerusalem, is found on a list of 31 kings from the land of Canaan who were killed by Joshua. After Joshuas death (Judges 1:1-2) the men of Judah attacked and destroyed Jerusalem, but it appears they did not occupy it at that time. This led to the resettling and fortiication of Jerusalem by the Jebusites. The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem also and took it. They put the city to the sword and set it on ire. - Judges 1:8 Even though the king of Jerusalem was killed in battle against Joshua, and the men of Judah destroyed Jerusalem in the following generation, the Israelites did not conqueror and occupy the fortress city of Jerusalem for another 400 years. By that time the city of Jerusalem had become a stronghold for the Jebusites. The natural layout of the land made Jerusalem an easy location to fortify. With the steep Kidron Valley on the east and the Central Valley and Hinnom Valley on the west joining the Kidron Valley in the south, the city was naturally and easily defended against attacks from the east, south and west. Any approach to attack the city had to come over the top of Mount Moriah and run straight into the northern wall. Thus, the greatest fortiications, the strongest walls and the largest number of armed men would be positioned in the northern part of the city. This is why the Jebusites mocked David when he came out to attack them: The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites, who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off. They thought, David cannot get in here. Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion, the City of David. - 2 Samuel 5:6-7 The text goes on to tell how David took the city from the Jebusites despite the natural defenses created by the steep valleys and the heavily fortiied northern wall: On that day, David said, Anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water shaft to reach those lame and blind who are Davids enemies. - 2 Samuel 5:8 (1 Chronicles 11:4-9) David called Jerusalem (also called Jebus, Salem, etc.) the City of David after he took it from the Jebusites. The hill on which the city was built and the hill just north of it (Mount Moriah) together became known as Zion. David then took up residence in the fortress, and so it was called the City of David. He built up the city around it, from the supporting terraces (literally - Millo) to the surrounding wall, while Joab restored the rest of the city. And David became more and more powerful, because the Lord Almighty was with him. - 1 Chronicles 11:7-9 The Millo is part of the City of Davidbuilt by the Jebusites before David conquered it. The Millo consists of the terraces and retaining walls on the eastern slope of the southeastern spur that supported the buildings above. Kathleen Kenyon has uncovered part of this Stepped Stone Structure, and Eilat Mazar has excavated what is now known as the Large Stone Structure that sat on the Millo. The Bible describes Davids construction work in his newly occupied city: And he built the city all around from the Millo in a complete circuit. - 1 Chronicles 11:8; 2 Samuel 5:9 David built his House of Cedar, or royal palace, on the Millo (2 Samuel 5:11). The Tower of David was also built there (Song of Solomon 4:4), as was the house of the mighty men (Nehemiah 3:16). David then extended the citys walls and fortress to the north of the eastern hill of the City of David up onto the Ophel toward Mount Moriah, or the Temple Mount. To do this David had to break down a portion of the northern wall. This breach was repaired by Solomon once construction was complete: Solomon built the Millo, and closed up the breach of the city of David his father. - 1 Kings 11:27 The walls that Solomon built to close up the breach created by Davids building projects have been uncovered and are detailed in this book. Solomon also began construction on Mount Moriah in preparation for building the Temple.
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The difference in price recorded in 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles is because the verses in 2 Samuel record the price of the threshing loor and the oxen (ifty shekels of silver) while the verse in 1 Chronicles records the price for the entire site where the threshing loor was located (600 shekels of gold). David purchased what we would today call the Temple Mount for 600 shekels of gold. Davids descendents have never sold what David purchased that day. The hill just north of the City of David was used as a threshing loor by the Jebusites, but it had also been associated with local worship for many years: Melchizedek, the King of Salem and Priest of God most High, would have worshipped on Mount Moriah in 2000 BC (Genesis 14) Abraham offered Isaac on Mount Moriah around 1950 BC (Genesis 22) Even in Abrahams day this site (the future site of the Jewish Temple Mount) was called the Lord provides (Genesis 22:14) Then around 980 BC, David rebuilt the altar of Abraham on the same spot (2 Samuel 24:18-20) and designed the plans for the Temple and the Temple Mount that Solomon would later construct in approximately 960 BC (2 Samuel 7). Solomon spent seven years building the Temple. Solomons palace was built just south of the Temple Mount on the Ophel. The palace project took 13 years and included the entire palace precinct the House of Pharaohs Daughter, the throne room, the Hall of Columns and the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Solomon also built up the City of David and its fortiications. Part of the city wall that Solomon built has been discovered and was excavated in 2010.
Above is Solomon's city in 940 BC after he included 22 more acres to the north of the City of David. The population was about 5,000 at this time.
Jerusalem in 940 BC
The Temple Mount is identiied as Mount Moriah in 2 Chronicles: Then Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing loor of Araunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David. - 2 Chronicles 3:1 David purchased Mount Moriah, from Araunah the Jebusite: So David bought the threshing loor and the oxen and paid ifty shekels of silver for them. David built an altar to the Lord there and sacriiced burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. - 2 Samuel 24:24-25 So David paid Araunah six hundred shekels of gold for the site. - 1 Chronicles 21:25
invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and great stones. - 2 Chronicles 26:9, 15 Jotham (750-735 BC) He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord and did much building on the wall of Ophel. - 2 Chronicles 27:3 Hezekiah (715-686 BC) In the irst year of his reign, in the irst month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. - 2 Chronicles 29:3 Hezekiah also built a wall around the western part of the city. This was the irst time the Western Hill had ever been fortiied. Hezekiah closed the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon and directed them down to the west side of the city of David. - 2 Chronicles 32:30 Isaiah records Hezekiahs efforts to prepare the city for the Assyrian invasion: In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest, and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool, and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. - Isaiah 22:8-11 This wall is also mentioned in Nehemiah 3:8 and 12:38. It was built of stones from houses that were torn down to get the rock and other material. It is called the Broad Wall because it is 21 feet wide. A 210-foot section of this wall has been discovered. Manasseh (697-642 BC) When Manasseh returned from his Assyrian imprisonment in Babylon: He built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into the Fish Gate, and carried it around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. - 2 Chronicles 33:4 Manasseh added a wall east of the City of David to protect the homes outside the city walls that had been built on the slopes of the Kidron Valley.
Hezekiah's city expanded to the west over the Central Valley on up to the Western Hill. The total area of the walled city was about 125 acres with an estimated population of 25,000.
Jerusalem in 701 BC
The kings that followed David and Solomon continued new construction in the City of David, the Ophel and the Temple Mount. They also expanded the city westward. The biblical chronicles of the kings record that on several occasions they undertook major restoration projects. Joash (835-796 BC) Joash decided to restore the house of the Lord. . . . they hired masons, and carpenters to restore the house of the Lord, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of the Lord. So those who were engaged in the work labored, and the repairing went forward in their hands, and they restored the house of God to its proper condition and strengthened it. - 2 Chronicles 24:4, 12-13 Uzziah (792-740 BC) Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate and at the Valley Gate and at the Angle, and fortiied them. . . In Jerusalem he made engines,
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Josiah (640-609 BC) They gave it (money) to the workmen who were working in the house of the Lord. And the workmen who were working in the house of the Lord gave it for repairing and restoring the house. They gave it to the carpenters and the builders to buy quarried stone, and timber for binders and beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had let go to ruin. - 2 Chronicles 34:10-11 After the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BC, the people who were left in the area of Samaria and Judah continued to bring offerings to the destroyed Temple Mount: Eighty men arrived from Shechem and Shiloh and Samaria, with their beards shaved and their clothes torn, and their bodies gashed, bringing grain offerings and incense to present at the temple of the Lord. - Jeremiah 41:5 In 538 Cyrus, the Persian King, gave orders to rebuild the temple: In the irst year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. - Ezra 1:1-3 The rebuilding of the temple came to a standstill in 520 BC due to opposition from Israels neighbors and political enemies. The city was resettled in these times of poverty and oppression, but the city walls and the temple remained in ruins. The rebuilding of the temple was inally completed in 516 BC: Then, because of the decree King Darius had sent, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates carried it out with diligence. So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They inished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. -Ezra 6:13-15 In 445 BC Nehemiah, a royal oficial serving the Persian emperor, came to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls. The details of Nehemiahs nighttime inspection of the city and its walls are recorded in the second chapter of Nehemiah: I set out during the night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on. By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by ire. Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the Kings Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate. The oficials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or oficials or any others who would be doing the work. Then I said to them, You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with ire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace. Nehemiah 2:13-17
BC when Alexander the Great entered Jerusalem. The Jewish high priest, Jaddua, met Alexander outside the city walls and showed him the scroll of the prophecy of Daniel which foretold the coming of the four-winged leopard and the goat from the west. Both of these identiied Alexander as the next conqueror of the Middle East. Alexander and the Greeks then worshipped in Jerusalem. Alexander promised the Jews their city and told them their Temple would never be deiled by the Greeks. The promise was good for 160 years until 172 BC when the Grecian king of Syria, the Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanies, executed the righteous Jewish high priest Onias III and replaced him with wicked men such as Jason and Menelaus who plundered the temple. In 168 BC Antiochus attacked Jerusalem, burning and looting homes then selling the women and children into slavery. There were 22,000 Syrian soldiers stationed in the Akra, a fortress built on the Ophel south of the Temple Mount looking north over the Temple courts and activities. The temple was plundered and desecrated, and on December 25, 168 BC, Antiochus set up an altar to Zeus to replace the Jewish altar of burnt offering. It was at this time that the Maccabees revolted against the Syrian invaders, and during the next four years war illed the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem. By 164 BC Judas Maccabeus had regained control of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, but Syrian soldiers maintained control of the stronghold next to the Temple Mount called the Akra. They would remain in control of this stronghold until Judass brother Simon drove out all Syrian troops 22 years later in 142 BC. By this time the Maccabees had established their rule, and Israel was recognized as an independent Jewish state by the rising power of Rome. Simon Maccabeus was given the title of high priest, general, and king for the Jewish state. This act established the Hasmonean Dynasty. (The title Hasmonean comes from the name Hasmon, one of the ancestors of the priestly family of Judas and Simon Maccabeus.) The Hasmoneans ruled until the Roman general Pompey entered Jerusalem in 63 BC amid civil war between two Hasmonean brothers and their political parties, the Pharisees and the Saducees. The Hasmonean government continued to deteriorate until 47 BC when Julius Caesar appointed Antipater, Herod the Greats father, to be the manager of Caesars affairs in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and Galilee. Antipater immediately began rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem that had been damaged during the previous
When approximately 4,500 exiles returned from Babylon, they occupied an area of about 30 acres. The gates are identiied in Nehemiah 12:31-40. The wall of Jerusalem was completed by Nehemiah and the citizens of the city in 445 BC. The dedication ceremony is recorded in Nehemiah: I had the leaders of Judah go up on top of the wall. I also assigned two large choirs to give thanks. One was to proceed (out of the Valley Gate on top of the wall to the right, toward the Dung Gate ...Ezra the scribe led the procession. At the Fountain Gate they continued directly up the steps of the City of David on the ascent to the wall and passed above the house of David to the Water Gate on the east. The second choir proceeded in the opposite direction. I followed them on top of the wall, together with half the people past the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall, over the Gate of Ephraim, the Jeshanah Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate. At the Gate of the Guard (Prison Gate, Inspectors Gate) they stopped. The two choirs that gave thanks then took their places in the house of God; so did I, together with half the oficials, as well as the priests. - Nehemiah 12:31-40 Rule by the Persian Empire that Nehemiah had served under was replaced by Grecian rule in 332

123 years of ighting. After Antipater was poisoned in 43 BC (a year after Julius Caesar was assassinated in Rome), his son Herod was appointed by Marc Antony as the ruler of Judea. Although it took Herod until 37 BC to ight his way into Jerusalem and take possession of the throne, he loved the city and its architecture. The days of Herods rule (the Herodian Age) began the greatest period of construction Jerusalem had ever seen. His projects in Jerusalem included paved streets with underground sewers, the palace complex in the citadel with luxury apartments in the towers called Phasael and Mariamne, fountains, baths, Fort Antonia, a Greek theater and the Hippodrome. He also continued work on the city walls. Herod greatly expanded the size of the Temple Mount and also remodeled the Temple itself.
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the rooms, arches and colonnades around the Temple on the Temple Mount. Additional work on the Temple Mount complex continued into the days of Jesus, so that the Jews could accurately say to Jesus in 27 AD: It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days? - John 2:20 In fact, work on the Temple Mount did not stop until the reign of Herod the Greats grandson, Herod Agrippa II, in 64 AD, two years before the Jewish revolt against Rome began. (Many of the pavement stones seen in the photos in this book were laid between 64 and 66 AD when Agrippa II used the then recently unemployed Temple laborers to repave the city streets of Jerusalem.) This was the revolt that would drive the Romans to level the Temple in 70 AD in fulillment of Jesus prophecy made in 30 AD: Do you see all these things? ...I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down. - Matthew 24:2
Jerusalem at the time of Jesus was about 230 acres with a population of around 40,000. Notice the site of the cruciixion was outside the city walls in 30 AD. By 41 AD Herod Agrippa II had expanded the walls to the northwest.
Jerusalem in 30 AD
Herod and the priests rebuilt the temple in a year and a half beginning in 19 BC. It was more than 15 stories tall and was built with white stones that were 37 feet long and 12 feet high. They spent another eight years on By the time of the irst Jewish revolt in 66 AD and the Roman destruction of the city, Jerusalem had a population of 80,000 inside walls that enclosed approximately 450 acres.
Jerusalem in 70 AD
In 41 AD Herod Agrippa II extended the city walls to the north to include the residential quarter of the growing city. It was during the years 41-44 AD that the site of Jesus cruciixion and burial were surrounded with walls and brought within city limits. Yet, even though residential construction was happening throughout this area no construction took place on the site of Jesus cruciixion and burial until the days of Emperor Hadrian in 135 AD. The Jews began a revolt against the Roman Empire in 66 AD by retaking Jerusalem, but this resulted in the Roman siege of Jerusalem beginning in April of 70 AD. It ended with the burning of the Temple on August 10, 70 AD. The Tenth Roman Legion (Legio X Fretensis, in Latin) was stationed in Jerusalem for the next 200 years, occupying the western side of the city and the citadel. Titus returned to Rome with the Golden Candle Stand from the Temple and other Temple treasures, including trumpets. This is attested to by the still-standing Arch of Titus in Rome that depicts Tituss triumphant return to Rome after the destruction and plundering of Jerusalem. It is clear the Temple treasures followed Titus and his legions back to Rome in 70 AD. The Christians who had led Jerusalem in 66 AD when they saw the approaching Roman armies (as advised by Jesus in Luke 21:20-22) began returning to Jerusalem in 73 AD and honored the location of Jesus death, burial and resurrection. Between 70 and 130 AD the Jewish presence in the city of Jerusalem also grew and began to thrive again until they organized a second revolt against the Romans in 132 AD. In that year the Jews drove the Romans out of Jerusalem and began a temporarily successful attempt to rebuild the temple. Coins were minted by the Jews and struck with the image of the rebuilt temple. These coins are also inscribed with the dates of the irst, second or third year of this second Jewish revolt (called the Bar-Kokhba Revolt). The Jewish rebels controlled Judea and even re-struck Roman coins, inscribing on them: For the Freedom of Jerusalem. After a three-year war Emperor Hadrian defeated the Jews again in 135 AD. According to the Roman historian Cassius Dio, who wrote around 200 AD, the Jews lost 985 of their villages when they were burned out of existence. The loss and cost for the Romans was also severe. When Hadrian reported his victory over Jerusalem to the Roman Senate he did not greet them with the customary opening phrase, I and the army are well, because the army was not well. Rome had lost the entire Twenty-second Legion (Legio XXII Deiotariana). Here is Cassius Dios account of the BarKokhba Revolt from the Roman point of view: At irst the Romans took no account of them. Soon, however, all Judea had been stirred up, and the Jews everywhere were showing signs of disturbance, were gathering together, and giving evidence of great hostility to the Romans, partly by secret and partly by overt acts; many outside nations, too, were joining them through eagerness for gain, and the whole earth, one might almost say, was being stirred up over the matter. Then, indeed, Hadrian sent against them his best generals. First of these was Julius Severus, who was dispatched from Britain, where he was governor, against the Jews. Severus did not venture to attack his opponents in the open at any one point, in view of their numbers and their desperation, but by intercepting small groups, thanks to the number of his soldiers and his under-oficers, and by depriving them of food and shutting them up, he was able, rather slowly, to be sure, but with comparatively little danger, to crush, exhaust and exterminate them. Very few of them in fact survived. Fifty of their most important outposts and nine hundred and eighty-ive of their most famous villages were razed to the ground. Five hundred and eighty thousand men were slain in the various raids and battles, and the number of those that perished by famine, disease and ire was past inding out. Thus nearly the whole of Judea was made desolate, a result of which the people had had forewarning before the war. For the tomb of Solomon, which the Jews regard as an object of veneration, fell to pieces of itself and collapsed, and many wolves and hyenas rushed howling into their cities. Many Romans, moreover, perished in this war. Therefore Hadrian in writing to the senate did not employ the opening phrase commonly affected by the emperors, "If you and our children are in health, it is well; I and the legions are in health." (Cassiius Dio, Roman History 69.13-69.14)
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decision may have been the inal factor in causing the Bar-Kokhba Revolt. Or the Bar-Kokhba Revolt may have been the inal factor in causing Hadrians decision. The history of this event is not clear, but either way, Hadrian won the war, and Jerusalem was converted into a Roman city with the status of Roman colony. Aelia refers to the clan name of Hadrians family: Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus. Capitolina refers to the Capitoline Triad of supreme deities in Roman religion who were worshipped on Romes Capitoline Hill: Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. Hadrian also renamed the land of Judea after the ancient enemies of Israel in the Old Testament, the Philistines. Judea became known as Palestine, or the land of the Philistines, and Jews were forbidden by Roman decree from entering Jerusalem except once a year on the date of the Temples destruction. Interestingly, the date of the Roman destruction of the Temple in 70 AD was exactly the same as the Babylonian destruction of the Temple in 586 BC. Hadrians projects in the city of Aelia Capitolina included building a temple to Jupiter on the Temple Mount right on top of the destroyed Jewish Temple. He hoped that the presence of a temple to a Roman god on the site would stamp out any Jewish hope of recovering and rebuilding their city. A statue of Hadrian was also placed on the Temple Mount. Hadrians successor, Antoninus Pius, placed a statue of himself there as well. A broken piece of this statues inscription can still be seen today in the southern Temple Mount wall above the Double Gate.
Hadrian renamed Jerusalem "Aelia Capitolina" after the Jew's second revolt against Rome in 130-135, and rebuilt it as a Roman city. Jews were forbidden entrance into the city except once a year to mourn their fallen Temple.
Jerusalem after 135 AD

Emperor Hadrian decided to turn Jerusalem into a Roman city and called it Aelia Capitolina. Hadrians
The location of Jesus death, burial and resurrection was also covered up by Hadrian when he built a retaining wall over the site. He used fallen Herodian ashlar stones from the Jewish Temple Mount to build the wall, and illed in the area with soil to form a platform upon which he erected a statue to Jupiter and a temple to Venus. Roman towns were laid out with two main roads crossing in the center. One road, called the decumanus, ran east to west and a second road, called the cardo, ran north to south. The place where they intersected would include the market. In Aelia Capitolina the decumanus ran from the Three Towers (Phasael, by todays Jaffa Gate) straight to the Temple Mount where it turned north before it continued east out the Lions, or Stephens, Gate. The cardo, or the north-south road, ran from the main north gate (Damascus Gate today) to Mount Zion in the south. This cardo with its pavement, street, curb, sidewalk, pillars and storefronts can still be seen today.
The Roman Tenth Legion had been stationed in Jerusalem since 70 AD. They spent 65 years camped on the western hill near the Jaffa gate and the Citadel. A Roman pillar still stands in that area with an inscription left by the Tenth Legion. Archaeological evidence indicates that after the Bar Kokhba Revolt they may have moved to or extended their camp to include the Temple Mount.
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In 313 Constantine declared Christianity a legal religion with the Edict of Milan. Then in 324, he united the eastern half of the Roman Empire with his western half, and Christianity became the dominant religion in Jerusalem until the Muslims conquered it in 638. Constantine created a new capital for the Roman Empire, moving it from Rome to the city of Byzantium on the coast of northwest Asia Minor at the crossroads of Europe and the East. This newly united and Christianized Roman Empire, which ruled Jerusalem until the Muslim conquest in 638, is known today as the Byzantine Empire. Constantine called his new Roman capitol city Constantinople. Many of the treasures of Rome were moved to Constantinople, or modern day Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey. Many churches were built in the city of Jerusalem at this time, including the Church of the Holy Sepulcher which commemorates the location of Jesus death on Calvary and his resurrection from the tomb in the nearby garden. Although the empire oficially converted from paganism to Christianity, the Byzantine Empire maintained an anti-Jewish position and did not allow Jews to enter Jerusalem except on the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av (Tisha BAv), the date for both the Babylonian (586 BC) and the Roman (70 AD) destructions of the Jewish Temple. The Temple Mount continued to be neglected and was left in ruins to fulill Jesus words: Your house is left to you desolate. - Matthew 23:38 There was a brief interruption of the Christian dominance in Jerusalem in 361 when the last sole survivor of Constantine, his nephew Julian, began to rule. Julian was known as the Apostate, and because he despised Christianity he annulled the anti-Jewish decrees and gave the Jews permission to rebuild their Temple. The Jews began work with inancial support from the Byzantine Empire as well as from Jews scattered in other lands who believed that Julian had been sent by God. The Jews dug up the foundations of the previous temple and began to rebuild in 362. However, natural events such as earthquakes and a ire on the Temple Mount, as well as the death of Julian in 363 in a battle against the Persians, brought an end to the attempt to rebuild the Temple and resume sacriices after only a few months. Salaman Hermias Sozomen, the church historian from Gaza wrote about these events in 440: On their (Jews) replying (to Julians order to build the Temple) that because the temple in Jerusalem was overturned, it was neither lawful nor ancestral to do this in another place than the metropolis out of which they had been cast, he gave them public money, commanded them to rebuild the temple, and to practice the cult similar to that of their ancestors, by sacriicing after the ancient way. The Jews entered upon the undertaking, without relecting that, according to the prediction of the holy prophets, it could not be accomplished. They sought for the most skillful artisans, collected materials, cleared the ground, and entered so earnestly upon the task, that even the women carried heaps of earth, and brought their necklaces and other female ornaments towards defraying the expense. The emperor, the other pagans, and all the Jews, regarded every other undertaking as secondary in importance to this. Although the pagans were not well-disposed towards the Jews, yet they assisted them in this enterprise, because they reckoned upon its ultimate success, and hoped by this means to falsify the prophecies of Christ. Besides this motive, the Jews themselves were impelled by the consideration that the time had arrived for rebuilding their temple. When they had removed the ruins of the former building, they dug up the ground and cleared away its foundation; it is said that on the following day when they were about to lay the irst foundation, a great earthquake occurred, and by the violent agitation of the earth, stones were thrown up from the depths, by which those of the Jews who were engaged in the work were wounded, as likewise those who were merely looking on. The houses and public porticos, near the site of the temple, in which they had diverted themselves, were suddenly thrown down; many were caught thereby, some perished immediately, others were found half dead and mutilated of hands or legs, others were injured in other parts of the body. When God caused the earthquake to cease, the workmen who survived again returned to their task, partly because such was the edict of the emperor, and partly because they were themselves interested in the undertaking. Men often, in endeavoring to gratify their own passions, seek what is injurious to them, reject what would be truly advantageous, and are deluded by the idea that nothing is really useful except what is agreeable to them. When once led astray by this error, they are no longer able to act in a manner conducive to their own interests, or to take warning by the calamities which are visited upon them.
The Jews, I believe, were just in this state; for, instead of regarding this unexpected earthquake as a manifest indication that God was opposed to the re-erection of their temple, they proceeded to
recommence the work. But all parties relate, that they had scarcely returned to the undertaking, when ire burst suddenly from the foundations of the temple, and consumed several of the workmen. This fact is fearlessly stated, and believed by all; the only discrepancy in the narrative is that some maintain that lame burst from the interior of the temple, as the workmen were striving to force an entrance, while others say that the ire proceeded directly from the earth. In whichever way the phenomenon might have occurred, it is equally wonderful. A more tangible and still more extraordinary prodigy ensued; suddenly the sign of the cross appeared spontaneously on the garments of the persons engaged in the undertaking. These crosses were disposed like stars, and appeared the work of art. Many were hence led to confess that Christ is God, and that the rebuilding of the temple was not pleasing to Him; others presented themselves in the church, were initiated, and besought Christ, with hymns and supplications, to pardon their transgression. If any one does not feel disposed to believe my narrative, let him go and be convinced by those who heard the facts I have related from the eyewitnesses of them, for they are still alive. Let him inquire, also, of the Jews and pagans who left the work in an incomplete state, or who, to speak more accurately, were unable to commence it. After his death, Julian was replaced by Emperor Jovian who reestablished Christianity as the religion of the Roman, or Byzantine, Empire. The temple to Jupiter that had been built by Hadrian and the statues of Hadrian and Antoninus may have been removed by the Christians of the Byzantine Empire between 324 and 361, or they may have been removed by the Jews during Julians reign from 361-363. A Christian pilgrim who traveled to Jerusalem in the year 333 from Bordeaux in southwest France gives us a few interesting details about Jerusalem and the Temple Mount during the reign of Emperor Constantine. Below is what the Bordeaux Pilgrim wrote in 333 concerning what he saw in Jerusalem. Keep in mind that this is what he understood based on what he saw and what these locations were called at that time. His descriptions include his understanding of theology,
history and scripture which were obviously inluenced by what the local residents (the Byzantine tour guides and religious leaders in Jerusalem) told him. Still, it is what it is and it is what he sawa very rare recording of a irsthand eyewitness description of Jerusalem during the reign of Constantine at the beginning of the Byzantine Empire. As such, it is priceless. (Note that my comments are in parenthesis and are not italicized. The writing of the Bordeaux Pilgrim is in italic. The map below attempts to follow his description through the city.) There are in Jerusalem two large pools at the side of the Temple, that is, one upon the right hand, and one upon the left, which were made by Solomon; (Outside the NE corner of Temple Mount would be the Pool of Israel. Outside the NW corner of Temple Mount would be the cisterns or pools found in todays Western Wall tunnels.) and further in the city are twin pools with ive porticoes, which are called Bethsaida. (Bethsesda, John 5:2-18) There persons who have been sick for many years are cured; the pools contain water which is red when it is disturbed. There is also here a crypt (This refers to a cave, or underground chamber; this cave is under the Dome of the Rock today and is undoubtedly connected to the network of 45 other cisterns, chambers, tunnels and caves that exist under the Temple Mount. It may also provide access to the legendary Well of Souls.) in which Solomon used to torture devils. (At this time King Solomon, due to his wisdom and the legends of the Jews, was known as a great magician and ighter of demons. Jars believed to have been used by Solomon to hold demons were displayed in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.) Here is also the corner of an exceeding high tower, (SE corner of the Temple Mount) where our Lord ascended and the tempter said to Him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence. And the Lord answered, Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God, but him only shall thou serve. (Matthew 4:1-11) There is a great cornerstone, of which it was said, The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner. (Matthew 21:42; Ps 118:22) Under the pinnacle of the tower are many rooms, and here was Solomon's palace. (Herod had built Solomon's Colonnade on the south side of the Temple Mount.)
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Covenant.) to which the Jews come every year and anoint it, bewail themselves with groans, rend their garments, and so depart. There also is the house of Hezekiah King of Judah. Also as you come out of Jerusalem to go up Mount Sion, (i.e., after leaving the Temple Mount and heading south out of the city on the main road, the Cardo Maximus) on the left hand, below in the valley, beside the wall, is a pool which is called Siloe (Pool of Siloam, John 9:1-11) and has four porticoes; (The four porches refer to Hadrians reconstruction in 135 AD. The Church of Siloam, was built in 450 AD, and its pillar bases can still be seen today in the water when exiting Hezekiahs Tunnel.) and there is another large pool outside it. This spring runs for six days and nights, but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, it does not run at all, either by day or by night. (This pool called Siloe, or Siloam, was still being fed water from the Gihon Springs on the east side through Hezekiahs Tunnel. The low of water from the Gihon Springs has always been known for gushing water intermittently. In fact, gihon means to gush forth. The people of this time did not know of Hezekiahs Tunnel. In fact, Josephus himself always calls Siloam a spring of water indicating that the Jews of 70 AD had forgotten about Hezekiahs Tunnel even though it continued to supply water to the Pool of Siloam.) On this side one goes up Sion, (walking outside the city walls around the Westside along the Hinnom Valley and up Mount Zion) and sees where the house of Caiaphas the priest was, (just outside todays walls and part of the extended Armenian Quarter, Matthew 26:5768) and there still stands a column against which Christ was beaten with rods. (Matthew 26:67-68 records spitting, striking and slapping at the High Priests Palace, but no rods.) Within, however, inside the wall of Sion, is seen the place where was David's palace. (This is the Citadel which was the fortress of the Macabees, the palace of Herod, and the camp of the Tenth Roman Legion. Today this Citadel and its remains are just inside the city walls by the Jaffa Gate.) Of seven synagogues which once were there, one alone remains; the rest are ploughed over and sown upon, as said Isaiah the prophet. (Isa 1:2.4-8; Micah 3:9-12)
This is Jerusalem from the time of the Bordeaux Pilgrim's visit from Gaul in 333 until the Muslim invasion of 638. The Bordeaux Pilgrim's written account of his visit is traced with the dotted line beginning on the east side, just outside the Temple Mount. There also is the chamber in which he sat and wrote the (Book of) Wisdom; (This chamber was called Solomons Stables by the Crusaders and still is today.) this chamber is covered with a single stone. There are also large subterranean reservoirs for water and pools constructed with great labor. And in the building itself, where stood the temple which Solomon built, they say that the blood of Zacharias (Matthew 23:35; Luke 11:51) which was shed upon the stone pavement before the altar remains to this day. There are also to be seen the marks of the nails in the shoes of the soldiers who slew him, throughout the whole enclosure, so plain that you would think they were impressed upon wax. There are two statues of Hadrian, (One of Hadrian and the other of Antoninus Pius. The inscription stone of Antoninus statue can still be seen today in the Southern Temple Mount Wall above the Double Gate) and not far from the statues there is a perforated stone (This is the bedrock of Mt. Moriah where the Ark of the Covenant sat in the Most Holy Place in the Temple of Solomon. This perforation, or carved out and leveled depression, can be seen inside the Dome of the Rock and is the same size as the Ark of the
From thence as you go out of the wall of Sion, as you walk towards the gate of Neapolis, (This would be in the location of todays Damascus Gate and was the grand new, or nea entrance to the Cardo.) towards the right, below in the valley, (Kidron Valley) are walls, where was the house or praetorium of Pontius Pilate. (Fort Antonia,
Matthew 27:11-31) Here our Lord was tried before His passion. (by Pontius Pilate.) On the left hand is the little hill of Golgotha where the Lord was cruciied. (As the Pilgrim walked up the Cardo towards the Neapolis Gate, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was on his left, and the remains of Fort Antonia further on his right, Matthew 27:33-37) About a stone's throw from thence is a vault wherein His body was laid, and rose again on the third day. (The tomb and Calvary were in the same garden in the gospels and are located in the same Church of the Holy Sepulcher both today and in 333 AD, Matthew 27:57-60; 28:110) There, at present, by the command of the Emperor Constantine, has been built a basilica, that is to say, a church of wondrous beauty, having at the side reservoirs (Cisterns were cut into the abandoned quarry. The remains of cisterns are found in the lower parts of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.) from which water is raised, (Holes in the arched ceiling were used to lower buckets on ropes from the homes above and can still be seen in the ceilings of these cisterns today.) and a bath behind in which infants are washed. (i.e., baptized). and John with Him, and Moses and Elias were beheld. (This event occurred in Caesarea Philippi, in Matthew 17:1-8, not here on the Mount of Olives as the Bordeaux Pilgrim believed). Christianity dominated in Jerusalem under the control of the Byzantine Empire until 614 when the Persians attacked Jerusalem. The Jews, who had been kept out of the city by Roman and Byzantine decrees for 479 years, joined with the attacking Persians against the Christians. For the next three years, 614-617, the Jews again had access to the city of Jerusalem now under Persian control. The Jews joined with the Persians in destroying churches including the Nea Church. The Jews would have had access to the Temple Mount and may have begun some form of building program. We do know from recorded history that they began sacriicing again on the Temple Mount. This three-year period came to an end when the Persians returned the rule of Jerusalem to the Christians and the Byzantine Empire, most likely for political reasons. With this Persian betrayal in 617, the Jews were once again forbidden from living in or entering the city. In 622 Muhammad, the founder of a new religion, led Mecca for Medina where the dispersed Jews rejected his new teaching. Muhammad began to kill Jews and raid Meccas caravans. When Muhammad died in 632 he ruled most of the Arabian Peninsula. Muhammads followers, the Muslims, continued to spread their religion through war to North Africa and the Old Babylonian Empire. In 634 Muslims began to invade the Byzantine Empire, and after a nine-month siege of the Christians in Jerusalem, they took the city in 638 under the leadership of Caliph Omar. Once again the Jews assisted the Muslims in conquering Jerusalem and were given permission to return. The years 660-750 AD are known as the Umayyad period. The Dome of the Rock was completed by Caliph Abd Al-Malik in 691, and the al-Aqsa Mosque was completed by Caliph al-Walid in 701. Jews were in charge of sanitation on the Temple Mount until 717. During this time, a Muslim historian, al-Muqaddasi (946-1000), wrote that Jerusalem was mostly illed with Jews and Christians and was lacking educated Muslims. In those days non-Muslims and even Jews were active on the Temple Mount. Over the next 1300 years at least ten different empires or dynasties would rule in Jerusalem until the British defeat of the Ottoman Empire during World War I in December of 1917.
Also as one goes from Jerusalem to the gate which is to the eastward (the Golden Gate) in order to ascend the Mount of Olives, is the valley called that of Josaphat. (Kidron Valley) Towards the left, where are vineyards, is a stone at the place where Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ; (Gethsemane, Mount of Olives, Matthew 26,36-50) on the right is a palm-tree, branches of which the children carried off and strewed in the way when Christ came. (Matthew 31:8) Not far from thence, about a stone's-throw, are two notable tombs of wondrous beauty; (There are tombs in the Kidron known today as the tombs of Absolom and Zechariah, but they cannot be theirs since they were built in a Greek style with Egyptian and Syrian inluence probably around 100 BC-30 AD.) in the one, which is a true monolith, lies Isaiah the prophet, and in the other Hezekiah, King of the Jews. (These tombs can still be seen today, but, although the identiication was believed to be true at the time of the Pilgrim, it was not accurate.)
From thence you ascend to the Mount of Olives, where before the Passion, the Lord taught His disciples. (Matthew 24-25) There by the orders of Constantine a basilica of wondrous beauty has been built. Not far from thence is the little hill which the Lord ascended to pray, when he took Peter
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In 750 AD the Abbasid Period began. The Jews were allowed into the city, and they even helped guard the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. In 969 the Fatimids of Egypt took control of Jerusalem and the Jews were again oppressed. The sixth ruling caliph of the Fatimid dynasty, Al-Hakim, began ruling at the age of eleven in 996. Al-Hakim started destroying churches and ordered the random persecution and execution of Christians in 1001. Easter was outlawed in 1004. Al-Hakim ordered the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on October 18, 1009. The church was demolished down to the bedrock. In 1042 AlHakims successor granted permission to the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX to begin reconstruction of the Holy Sepulcher. In 1073 the Seljuks took control, and the persecution of Christians and Jews continued. The Crusaders, with orders from Pope Urban II and under the military leadership of Godfrey de Bouillon, took Jerusalem in 1099 by slaughtering 70,000 Jews and Muslims on July 15, 1099. The Crusaders then prohibited the Jews from living in Jerusalem. Baldwin I was named King of Jerusalem. The Dome of the Rock was re-consecrated by the Christian Crusaders as the Temple Domini (Temple of the Lord) and the Al-Aksa Mosque was renamed the Temple Salomonis (Temple of Solomon). The period of the Crusaders lasted from 1099 to 1187. In 1187 Saladin retook the city from the Crusaders and the Ayyubid period began (1187-1229). The Jewish community in Jerusalem once again grew. The Dome of the Rock and Al Aksa Mosque were restored to Islam, and the walls were overlaid with marble bearing Arabic inscriptions. Five years later in 1192 Richard the Lionheart failed to take Jerusalem for the Crusaders but Saladin did grant Christians permission to worship in Jerusalem. Sultan Malik-al-Muattam destroyed Jerusalems city walls in 1219. They were to remain in ruins until Sultan Suleiman the Magniicent rebuilt them in 1537. Frederick II gained control of Jerusalem for the Crusaders in 1229 during the Sixth Crusade without a ight due to internal strife in the Ayyubid dynasty. He simply marched to the Holy Sepulcher, took a crown from the altar there and placed it on his head. However, any hope of a long Crusader rule ended in 1244 when the Ayyubids from Cairo recaptured Jerusalem. In 1250 the Mamluks, sultans from Egypt, took power and maintained it until 1516. By that time over 300 rabbis from Europe had immigrated back to Jerusalem along with notable rabbis Maimonides and Nachmandides, and poet/philosopher Judah Halevi. Yet, Jerusalem was without walls during the entire Mamluk reign until they were built in 1537-1541. The 1400s brought new Jewish immigration from Spain and Italy. As a result of the growing Jewish population in Jerusalem, there was a dispute between the Jews and Christians over the Tomb of David on Mt. Zion. The Catholic Church responded by issuing a papal decree in 1428 prohibiting sea captains form transporting any more Jews back to Israel. In 1517 the Ottomans peacefully took over Jerusalem and began making improvements in the city. In order to prevent invasions from marauding Bedouin tribes and to deter King Charles V from considering another Crusade against Jerusalem, Suleiman the Magniicent began to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem that same year. Finally in 1541 the walls of Jerusalem were complete, and the city, which had been unprotected since 1219, was again enclosed. These are the walls we see today. By 1700 there were only about 7,000 Jews left in Jerusalem, but Rabbi Yehuda HeHassid arrived and began building the Hurva Synagogue. The Jews built the irst modern Jewish settlement outside the walls of Jerusalem in 1860, and by 1866 Jews were the majority in Jerusalem. In 1898 the founder of the World Zionist Organization, Dr. Theodor Herzl, visited Jerusalem. By 1917, World War I and the British army brought an end to Ottoman rule, and Jerusalem was peacefully handed over to British general Allenby. This peaceful transfer allowed the walls of Suleiman the Magniicent to remain standing. The British Mandate gave Britain jurisdiction in Jerusalem until May 14, 1948 when the State of Israel was proclaimed and Israel was declared to be an independent state under the rule of the Jews.
Jerusalem in 635 AD
The walls built by the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Great in 1537 still stand today. Notice that Mount Zion and the City of David to the south are outside the walls. This can be confusing to people today because the original city of Jerusalem that David conquered is not inside the walls of todays Old City of Jerusalem.
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Chapter 2
History of Jerusalem
CHALCOLITHIC PERIOD (4500-3300 BC)
3500 BC - Jerusalem is irst settled on the Ophel
above the Gihon Spring
IRON AGE (1200-539 BC)

1000 BC - David takes Jerusalem from the
Jebusites 960 BC - Solomon builds the irst Temple 712 BC - Hezekiah cuts a tunnel through bedrock under the City of David from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam 586 BC - Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians destroy Jerusalem and the Temple; Jews are taken captive to Babylon
BRONZE AGE (3300-1200 BC)

2000 BC - Abraham meets with the Melchizedek,
the king of Jerusalem, which is called Salem at that time 1800 BC - Jerusalem is mentioned in Egyptian Texts and called Rasalimum 1400 BC - Joshua kills Adoni-zedek, the Jebusite king of Jerusalem but does not capture the city of Jerusalem, which is also called Jebus 1400 BC - Jerusalem appears in diplomatic correspondences called the Amarna Letters as Urusalim
PERSIAN AGE (539-332 BC)

537 BC - Cyrus the Persian allows Jews to return
to rebuild Jerusalem
516 BC The second Temple, or Zerubbabel's

Temple, is completed 445 BC - Nehemiah rebuilds the walls
HELLENISTIC PERIOD (332-141 BC)

332 BC - Alexander the Great and the Greeks
get control of Israel from the Persians and take Jerusalem peacefully 320 BC - Ptolemy I captures Jerusalem and the Egyptian rule of Jerusalem begins 198 BC - Seleucids from Syria capture Jerusalem and the Syrian rule of Jerusalem begins 168 BC - Antiochus IV Epiphanes desecrates the Temple in Jerusalem and the Maccabean revolt soon begins 164 BC - Judas Maccabeus recaptures Jerusalem
Figure 1 - The Royal Archives of Tel al-Amarna, Egypt, contained 350

letters written in cuneiform script. This clay tablet is one of six letters written to Egyptian kings by the ruler of Jerusalem shortly after 1400 BC. Jerusalem is called Urusalim in these Amarna Letters. Joshua had recently killed a king of Jerusalem (Joshua 12:7-10). The city name Urusalim means foundation of Shalem. The deitys name, Shalem, means complete, prosperous, and peaceful as seen in the text of Hebrews 7:2, king of Salem means king of peace. The original tablet is preserved in the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin. Recently (June 2010) Eilat Mazar found a clay fragment from this same time period in the area of the Ophel in Jerusalem written in the same cuneiform on Jerusalem clay by a royal scribe. This ind conirms Egypts opinion of Jerusalem, as portrayed in the Amarna Letters, as a major city centuries before it was conquered by David.
HASMONEAN PERIOD (141-37 BC)
141 BC - Simon Maccabeus (Judas's brother)
establishes Judea as an independent state
701 - Al-Aqsa Mosue is completed by Caliph al

Walid 750 - Abassid dynasty begins and continues until 974 878 - The Tulunids take the city 904 - The Abassids retake the city 939 - The Ikhshidid take the city 969 - The Fatimids take the city under General Gawhar Al-Siqilli 1009 - The Egyptian caliph al-Hakim destroys the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and has the tomb of Jesus crushed down to the remaining bedrock; the burial bench is spared simply because it was covered with rubble 1010 - Synagogues and churches in Jerusalem are destroyed by Caliph al-Hakim 1077 - Seljuk Turks conquer Jerusalem 1096 - Pope Urban calls for a crusade to take back the Holy Land
141 BC - The Maccabee family, called

Hasmoneans, begin to rule as kings in Jerusalem
HERODIAN PERIOD (37 BC - 70 AD)

63 BC - Roman General Pompey captures
Jerusalem for Rome
40 BC - Herod the Great is appointed king in

Jerusalem by Rome 18 BC - Herod begins rebuilding the Temple 10 BC - Temple is dedicated, but construction continues until 63 AD 66 AD - Jewish revolt against Rome begins
ROMAN PERIOD (70-324)

70 AD - Jerusalem falls to the Romans; the city
and Temple are destroyed
132 - Second Jewish revolt against Rome

beginsBar Kokhba takes Jerusalem from Rome 135 - Roman Emperor Hadrian puts down the second Jewish revolt and rebuilds the city, calling it Aelia Capitolina. A pagan temple for Jupiter (Zeus) was built on the Temple Mount and Jews were forbidden to enter the city
CRUSADER PERIOD (1099-1187)

1099 - Godfrey of Bouillon captures Jerusalem
for the Christians; Baldwin I is named King of Jerusalem; a great slaughter of Jews and Muslims by the Christians follows the capture of the city
AYYUBID PERIOD (1187-1250)

1187 - General Saladin takes Jerusalem from the
Crusaders; Jews and Muslims return and settle in the city 1192 - Crusaders fail to take Jerusalem but the Muslim General Saladin allows Christians to worship at their holy sites 1212 - Three hundred rabbis from England and France settle in Jerusalem 1219 - Sultan Malilk-al-Muattam razes the city walls 1229 - Crusaders briely recapture Jerusalem twice 1244 - Crusader era ends when Khawarizmian Turks capture Jerusalem
BYZANTINE PERIOD (324-638) 326 - Constantine's mother, Helena, visits

Jerusalem and establishes the Christian holy sites; many churches are built 335 - Church of the Holy Sepulcher is built 361 - Emperor Julian the Apostate allows the Jews to return to Jerusalem and begin rebuilding the Temple 438 - Jews are allowed to live in Jerusalem 614 - Persians conquer Jerusalem under General Shahrbaraz; churches are destroyed, including the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which is burnt; the Jews driven out of Jerusalem in 617 629 - The Byzantine Empire (Christian) recaptures Jerusalem from the Persians under Emperor Heraclius
MAMLUK PERIOD (1250-1516)

1250 - A Muslim caliph dismantles the walls of
Jerusalem 1260 - Mameluks of Egypt capture Jerusalem 1347 - Mamelukes capture Jerusalem a second time
FIRST MUSLIM PERIOD (638-1099)

638 - The Muslim Caliph Omar, or Umar, (a caliph
is a political leader of Islam), takes Jerusalem from the Byzantine Empire six years after Mohammed's death 661 - Umayyad dynasty begins and continues until 750 691 - Dome of the Rock completed by Caliph Abd al-Malilk
OTTOMAN PERIOD (1517-1917)

1517 - Ottomans (Sultan Selim) peacefully take
over Jerusalem
1537 - Sultan Suleiman "the Magniicent" rebuilds

the city walls which had been in ruins since 1219
Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture 1541 - Jerusalem's Eastern or Golden Gate is
sealed to prevent the entrance of the Jewish Messiah 1542 - Damascus gate built 1700 - Rabbi Yehuda He'Hassid arrives in Jerusalem and begins building the "Hurva" Synagogue 1705 - Restrictions imposed on the Jews in Jerusalem 1831 - Sultan Mehemet Ali of Egypt conquers the city 1838 - First British consulate is opened in Jerusalem 1840 - The Ottoman Turks retake the city 1844 - Census shows 7,120 Jews, 5,760 Muslims, 3,390 Christians 1860 - First Jewish settlement outside the walls of the city 1898 - World Zionist Organization founder, Dr. Theodor Herzl, visits Jerusalem; Dr. Herzl meets German Kaiser Wilhelm outside the city walls
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the partition of Israel
1948 - British Mandate and control of Jerusalem

ends and the State of Israel begins 1948 - Israel War of Liberation; Jewish Quarter in Old City falls 1949 - Jerusalem is divided in the IsraelTransJordan Armistice Agreement; Jerusalem is divided between two countries; Jerusalem is declared the capital of Israel 1967 - Jerusalem reunited when the Old City is captured; Jordan ires shells and mortars to begin the Six Day War which results in Israeli troops capturing the Old City 2009 There were 774,000 people living in Jerusalem in 2009 compared to 84,000 who lived in Jerusalem in 1948. In 1967 there were 66,000 Palestinians residing in East Jerusalem and a few hundred Jews. By 2006 there were 229,004 Muslims, 181,457 Jews and 13,638 Christians living in East Jerusalem (Total people in East Jerusalem in 2006 was 424,000). According to recent statistics a woman in Jerusalem, both Arab or Jewish, will have four children. The education system in Jerusalem serves 250,000 students. 64% of these students study in the Hebrew education schools and 35% study in the Arab schools.
MODERN PERIOD (1917-present)

1917 - British take Jerusalem from the Ottoman
Empire, and General Allenby enters the city
1947 - United Nations Resolution recommending
Summary
2000 BC - 1400 BC 1400 BC - 70 AD Canaanites, Jebusites Israelites Joshua and Judges 1400-1005 BC David and Davidic Kings 1005-586 BC Babylon 586-539 BC Persian 539-332 BC Greek 332-164 BC Hasmonean 164-63 BC Roman 63 B 70 AD Romans (Pagan) Romans (Byzantine-Christian) Muslims Umayyad 660-750 Abbasid 750-969 Fatimid 969-1073 Seljuks 1073-1099 Crusaders (Christian) Muslims Ayyubid 1187-1250 Mamluk 1250-1516 Ottoman 1516-1917 British Israelites
70 AD - 325 AD 326 - 638 638 - 1099
1099 - 1187 1187 - 1917
1917 - 1948 1948 - present
Chapter 3
Modern Jerusalems Old City

The Christian Quarter is the most visited quarter of the Old City because it includes the site of Jesus death, burial and resurrectionthe Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This quarter is cluttered with a seemingly endless cluster of churches and holy sites whose roofs, domes and facades are built so close together that they are undistinguishable. The streets are illed with narrow storefronts leading into shops that continue in long narrow paths to the back. The market streets are noisy with modern pilgrims and shopkeepers trying to lure them into their stores.
Jewish Quarter
The Old City and its walls, quarters, streets and sites today.
Christian Quarter
A view of the Jewish Quarters new buildings and landscaping that sits above the excavated Cardo Street of the ancient Romans. The Jewish Quarter is a thriving modern community with more than 1,000 families. It has been rebuilt out of the rubble that was left from Jordanian occupation of the area from 1948 until the Six Day War of 1967. Since the destruction was severe, the Jews who returned to the Old City in 1967 excavated the quarters archaeological remains irst and then built their city over, around and beside the ancient discoveries. Today there are numerous synagogues and schools for Jewish studies, along with contemporary shops and restaurants up and down the streets. The ancient Roman Cardo Street (135 AD) with its old Byzantine bazaar (325 AD) has been preserved and is illed with trendy new businesses that sell a wide variety of items, including original art work by local artists.
A view of the Christian Quarter from the roof of the Petra Hotel.
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Muslim Quarter Armenian Quarter
The Bazaar on El-Wad Street just inside the Damascus Gate, which can be seen in the background at the end of the street. The Muslim Quarter is the largest and most populated of the four quarters in the Old City. Developed by Herod the Great, organized by the Christian Byzantine Empire, and then occupied by the Christian Crusaders, even this section is full of Churches and Christian shrines. The main streets, El-Wad (which leads to the Damascus Gate) and Via Dolorosa (which runs from the Lions Gate to intersect El-Wad), are bazaars with Muslim shopkeepers ready to sell the Christian Pilgrim a plastic cruciix or olive wood nativity set. When Jesus walked through these streets to his cruciixion they were busy even then and would have been illed with shops. Closer to the Temple Mount (or as the Muslims call it the Hara mesh-Sharif, meaning The Noble Sanctuary), buildings from the Mamelukes reconstruction of the city from 1250 to 1516 can be seen. This area today preserves some of the ine medieval Islamic architecture.
An Armenian woman hand paints the ceramics created in her father's local shop. The nation of Armenia was the irst to declare itself a Christian nation. They did this in 301, even before the days of Constantine, when the Armenian area was established on Mount Zion. Armenians had been living in Jerusalem since 95 BC. Right before the Crusader period (1099-1187 AD) began, the Armenian Quarter started to develop. It reached its current size during the Ottoman period (1517-1917). Today the Armenian quarter covers about one-sixth of the Old City. Although the Armenians are one of the smallest ethnic groups in the city they are proud of their 1700 yearold Christian heritage and are friendly, hospitable and luent in English.
A street in the Old City early in the morning.
The village of Silwan on the east side of the Kidron Valley as seen from the west side in the City of David.
Silwan
Silwan is an Arab village of about 45,000 people that sits south and southeast of the Old City on the City of David and to the east of the City of David across the Kidron Valley. The name of the village, Silwan, is the Arabic form of the Greek word siloam which is from the Hebrew shiloah. It occupies the fertile land near the Gihon Springs where King Solomons gardens once were. Silwan is built on top of the necropolis, or a cemetery, from the days of the Old Testament. The ancient tombs are used as cisterns, basements, or living quarters by the Arabs in Silwan today.
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Chapter 4
The Modern Walls

Jerusalem's current walls were built under the orders of Suleiman the Magniicent between the years 1537 and 1541. Some portions were built over the ancient walls from 2,000 years ago. The walls were built to prevent invasions from local tribes and to discourage another crusade by Christians from Europe. They even withstood artillery ire during the war of 1948. The walls of the Old City are 40 feet high and 3.8 km or 2.36 miles around. The Ottoman Turkish sultan had wanted the walls to enclose the southern City of David also, but the architects failed to include Mount Zion or the City of David. As a result, Suleiman had the architects beheaded. There are eight gates in the city walls today: Jaffa Gate, New Gate, Damascus Gate, Herod Gate, Lions Gate, Golden (Eastern) Gate, Dung Gate and Zion Gate. The Old City is divided into four quarters: Armenian, Jewish, Muslim and Christian. The enclosed area is called "The Old City. The modern city of Jerusalem is much larger and includes a wider variety of business and residential areas than the Old City.
The Golden Gate in the east wall of the Old City.
The two graves of Suleimans architects who failed to include Mount Zion and the old City of David within the walls. Suleiman decapitated the men and buried them just inside the Jaffa Gate.
This is the inside view of the window in the wall above. Notice it is narrow on the outside to hinder incoming arrows, but wide on the inside to allow the archer to shoot from a wider range of angles at the enemy below on the outside of the wall.
The second architect of the city walls executed by Suleiman. They lost their lives but Suleiman honored their work by burying them inside the Jaffa Gate.
Arrows and bullets were ired from these loopholes, or arrow loops, which are narrow vertical windows in the wall.
The archer's view from the inside looking down into the Kidron Valley with the Mount of Olives in the background.
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between the supports (corbels) where hot oil, boiling water or stones could be poured or dropped through the loor down onto the invading troops below. The use of animal fat and oil was very dangerous for the defenders to use because it could reach 400 degrees F. The oil would not be boiled since the smoking point of oil (the temperature at which the oil begins to break down) is lower than its boiling point. This means it would start smoking before it started to boil. This would make it dificult to reach the boiling point since the smoke would be extremely irritating to the eyes and throats of those who were heating it as a defensive weapon. Josephus records the use of this technique in the following account: They (Romans) began already to get upon the wall. Then did Josephus take necessity for his counselor in this utmost distress, and gave orders to pour scalding oil upon those whose shields protected them ...they (Jews) brought being a great quantity also, and poured it on all sides upon the Romans, and they threw down their vessels as they were still hissing from the heat of the ire: this so burnt the Romans, that it dispersed that united band, who now tumbled down from the wall with horrid pains, for the oil did easily run down the whole body from head to foot, under their entire armor, and fed upon their lesh like lame itself. -Josephus, The Great Roman-Jewish War, III.7.27-28
A machicolation, typical of castles and fortiications of the Middle Ages, where hot oil or rocks were dropped on the invading enemy below. One of the features of medieval warfare was the machicolationa porch in the wall with openings
The West Wall of the Old City
This is the west wall of the Old City by Jaffa Gate. Jaffa Gate is on the right side of the photo with an opening into the "L" shaped entry just around the corner to the left.
Details of archaeological inds visible along the west wall of the Old City from the Citadel to the southwest corner.
This is a Turkish, or Ottoman, Tower built by Suleiman. Notice the outcropping of the bedrock under the tower. The walls had to be built on solid bedrock and in many places this bedrock can be seen above the service of the ground. Each period that built or rebuilt the walls tended to follow the same wall line on the bedrock.
Suleiman's wall from 1535 AD is built along the same line as the Hasmonean (Maccabees) wall from 160 BC, which was reinforced in the same location by Herod in 20 BC.
Herod the Great's palace would have stood on the other side of this wall inside the city. Jesus would have been brought here for his trial before Herod Antipas in 30 AD.
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This is part of the Herodian wall built in 20 BC.
Herodian stones mark a west gate entrance into Herod's city by his palace from 20 BC. The top step of a wide staircase can be seen in the middle of the photo. The steps can be seen when viewed from the other direction. West Jerusalem and the beautiful modern King David Hotel is visible in the distance on the other side of the Hinnom Valley. Looking south along the west wall of the Old City from the Citadel. The Hinnom Valley is on the right.
Looking north along the west wall of the Old City which continues northward (but goes out of view for a bit on the left). Two courses of Hasmonean or Herodian stones still sit on the scarp of rock that projects from the bedrock.
The North Wall of the Old City
The north wall near the Damascus Gate. There are three gates in the north wall: New Gate, Damascus Gate and Herods Gate.
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The East Wall of the Old City
The east wall of the Old City contains the Golden Gate and the Lions Gate. This particular gate is the Golden Gate. The Temple Mount sits on the other side of this gate and this wall faces the Kidron Valley and the Mount of Olives. The Golden Gate was sealed by the Muslims in order to discourage the Jews hope for the return of their Messiah, who is supposed to walk through
that very gate when he enters Jerusalem. The Muslim graves were put here because this is where they believe the resurrection will take place and where the judgment of mankind will occur. Jewish graves are also located in this area on the other side of the Kidron Valley on the Mount of Olives since they also believe the inal judgment will be executed here by their Messiah.
The South Wall of the Old City
This is the south wall of the Old City looking east. The south wall has two gates: Zion Gate and Dung Gate.
This is the southeast corner of the Nea Church (2) with the south wall of the Old City built over the top of its previous remains.
The Herodian Aqueduct (1) on the south wall.
These are Herodian residences (3) along the outside of todays south wall of the Old City.
The Herodian Aqueduct (1) lows to the east of the above photo.
This is a medieval tower (5) along the south wall of the Old City just west of the Mikvah past the aqueduct.
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These Mikvahs (6), or ritual baths, are from the time of the Second Temple and were built by Herod.
A medieval tower (7) sits by the south wall of the Old City with the Byzantine paving stones still visible. The Dung Gate is to the right (east) of this photo. A medieval tower sits just west of the Dung Gate, east of the mikvah on the south wall. There is a gate
called the Tanners Postern Gate because the cattle market was located on the inside and provided cow hides for the tanneries outside. The Byzantine street pavement can still be seen. It extends under the wall and continues down to the Pool of Siloam.
Chapter 5
The Modern Gates

Suleimans original walls had six gates: Damascus Gate, Herods Gate, Stephens Gate, Dung Gate, Zion Gate and Jappa Gate. The gates were all designed and built to have an L-shaped entry instead of a straight line of entry. Taking this sharp ninety degree turn would have slowed down an invading army in the inal moments of a siege. The L turns have been removed from Stephens Gate and the Dung Gate to better facilitate modern trafic but can still be seen in the other four gates.
Jaffa Gate
This road runs right beside the Jaffa Gate, (which sits directly to the left of the road). The present name of this gate is the Jaffa Gate since it leads to the port of the city of Jaffa (which is also known as Joppa, so it is sometimes called the Joppa Gate). It was originally called Bab el-Khalil, or the Gate of the Friend, since it opens towards Hebron which is where Abraham, the friend of God, came from. In the photo above, the Jaffa Gate is on the left and the Citadel on the right. The wall south of Jaffa Gate (in between the gate and the Citadel) was removed in 1898 by the Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II to allow his ally Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to ride into the city in his carriage. The moat, which was located where the road is now, was also illed in at that time. The sultan did this to give the Kaiser the impression that he was entering Jerusalem through the Jaffa Gate when really he was not, since there is a legend that says all conquerors will enter through the Jaffa Gate. In 1917, the British General Edmund Allenby entered through the Jaffa Gate on foot and gave a speech on the steps of the Citadel. The Jaffa Gate was the focus of Israeli forces in 1948 as they tried to capture the Old City in order to unite it with Israeli-controlled western Jerusalem. However, the Jews did not gain control of it until 1967. Between 1948 and 1967 the Jordanians could not use this gate for trafic so they had to widen the Dung Gate to get access the Old City and its Citadel.
A local resident is selling bread from his cart by the L-shaped Jaffa Gate entrance.
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Zion Gate
Bullet damage from the ight between Arabs and Israeli forces for the Jewish Quarter during the war in 1948 can still be seen in the Zion Gate. The Zion Gate and the Jaffa Gate were closed from 1948 to 1967 when the Jordanians (Arabs) maintained control of the Old City. They closed the gates because they faced West Jerusalem, which was controlled by Israel.
A group of Israeli soldiers huddle inside the Zion Gate. The Zion Gate sits on Mount Zion. The Arabic name is Bab Nabi Daud, or the Gate of the Prophet David because the Crusaders and other early Christians misidentiied the location of Davids tomb. David was not buried on Mount Zion, but in the City of David, probably on the Ophel outside the northern walls of the city at that time: Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. - 2 Kings 2:10 The tomb of David was still in Jerusalem in 30 AD when Peter addressed a crowd of Jews and said: Brothers, I can tell you conidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. - Acts 2:29
The scars from artillery ire in 1948 still mark the Zion Gate.
Dung Gate
The pointed arch at the top of the Dung Gate above the lintel indicates that it was originally designed as a postern gate, which is a secondary gate in a fortiication, often concealed so the citys occupants could secretly escape the city or deploy troops against besiegers. This gate was widened in 1953 by the occupying Jordanians so that vehicles could get into the Old City, since the Jaffa Gate and Zion Gate were under siege and closed. At one point in the citys history the cattle market was located inside the Dung Gate, and this may be how the gate got its name.
Golden Gate
The Golden Gate was built around 640-705 AD by the last Byzantine ruler, or possibly the irst of the Muslim rulers. This gate was sealed in the 700s to prevent Jewish zealots from creating and promoting a messiahlike political igure to rally around. The Crusaders kept the gate blocked, but twice each year they would unblock and open it for Palm Sunday in the spring and for a fall festival called Exaltation of the Cross. This gate has not been unblocked since the Crusaders lost control of Jerusalem. The view looking into the Dung Gate toward the Western Wall entrance. This gate was widened in 1953 by the Jordanians in order to move trafic in and out of the Old City. The arch at the top of the gate shows the original width of the gate that was originally used for pedestrians.
The Golden Gate in the Eastern Wall.
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Arab graves ill the space in front of the entire length of the eastern wall. Behind the black metal fence setting in front of the Golden Gate and underneath recently poured concrete is the now-inaccessible Herodian gate. Photos of this 2000-year-old gate (and its Herodian ashlars in the arch) were taken in 1969 by James Flemming, a student from the American Institute of Holy Land Studies in Jerusalem (now called Jerusalem University College). Lambert Dolphin records James Flemings experience and discovery in these words: In the year 1969 Jerusalem archaeologist James Fleming was investigating the Eastern wall of the Temple where a Muslim cemetery has long been located. It had rained heavily the night before and the ground remained soggy the next day. As he investigated the area immediately in front of the Golden Gate, the ground beneath his feet gave way and he dropped into a hole about eight feet deep. Fleming found himself "knee-deep in bones" and became suddenly aware he had fallen into a mass burial site. To him, the most amazing aspect of this incident was his clear view of ive large wedgeshaped stones set into a massive arch. It appeared he had discovered an ancient gate under the present Golden Gate: "Then I noticed with astonishment that on the eastern face of the turret wall, directly beneath the Golden Gate itself, were ive wedgeshaped stones neatly set in a massive arch spanning the turret wall. Here were the remains of an earlier gate to Jerusalem, below the Golden Gate, one that apparently had never been fully documented. (BAR, Jan./Feb. 1983, p30) Very soon after this discovery the Muslims covered the chamber, cemented over the top, and surrounded the mass grave with a protective iron fence. Sadly, this means it is unlikely that Israeli archaeologists will be able to excavate the gate under the Golden Gate in the near future. In contrast visitors to the Damascus Gate are now able to visit an ancient, restored old Roman gate beneath the present Damascus Gate (the present upper Damascus Gate was reconstructed in 1537-38). Josephus states (Wars V, 184-189) that the Eastern temple enclosure wall was the only one not rebuilt by Herod the Great. The ancient gate beneath the Golden Gate may therefore date from Solomonic times or at least from the time of Nehemiah. Such a view of consistent with Asher Kaufman's view that the First and Second Temples were located 110 meters North of the Dome of the Rock in the immediate vicinity of the small Dome of the Tablets shrine on the main temple platform. (by Lambert Dolphin at http://www.templemount.org/visittemp.html) (Two different photos of the ancient gate below the present Golden Gate taken by James Fleming after he had fallen in the grave in front of the Golden Gate in 1969 may be seen online at these two locations: http://members.bibarch.org/image.asp?PubID=BSBA& Volume=34&Issue=02&ImageID=01621&SourcePage= publication.asp&UserID=0& and http://www.welcometohosanna.com/JERUSALEM_ TOUR/jerusalempics/goldenbelow.gif)
The Golden Gate as viewed from the Mount of Olives looking over the Kidron Valley.
Todays Eastern Gate is also known as the Golden Gate, because it was associated with the Beautiful Gate on the Temple Mount mentioned in scripture. When Jerome translated the Greek New Testament into Latin beginning in 386 AD, he translated the Greek word oraia (beautiful) into Latin using the Latin word aurea, which means golden. Thus, the Eastern Gate, which was associated with the Temple and prophecy, came into our English language known as the Golden Gate instead of the Beautiful Gate. At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. - Acts 7:57 An earlier tradition associates the north side of the city as the place of Stephens stoning. It was also named The Jordan Valley Gate (Bab elGhor) by Suleiman.
Lions Gate (St. Stephens Gate)
Details of one pair of lions on the top right side of the Lions Gate from 1537. There are two animals on each side of the gate that have been called lions, but may actually be leopards or panthers. These were the emblem of the Mamluk sultan the Ottoman Empire who was defeated in 1517, twenty years before the walls and gates were built. Even though the lion is a symbol of Jerusalem and Judah, it is also possible that these lions were placed here to honor the Mameluk Sultan Baibars (1123-1277). Baibars defeated the Crusaders, conquered the Middle East and was known as The Lion of Egypt and Syria. The Lions Gate in the east wall of the Old City. Originally, the Lions Gate was an L-shaped gate that required a person to enter and turn left. The back wall of the gate was removed by the British in order to allow trafic to enter the Old City. The original arch and remaining part of the gate can still be seen to the left inside the gate. We know that the location of this gate has not changed from the time of Herod, so it may be where Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. It may also be the same gate that Stephen was taken out of to be stoned in the Kidron Valley as seen in Acts chapter seven: A closer view of one of the four lions at the Lions Gate.
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Herods Gate
Herod's Gate, or the Flower Gate, sits in the north wall of the Old City. Although it was called the Flowered Gate (Bab ezZahr) because of the lower on the tower wall above it, Christians in the 1500s believed they had located Herod Antipas palace just inside this gate. The building was actually a Mamluk house, and Herods palace was in the Citadel on the west wall of the city just south of the Jaffa Gate. The opening we see today was actually cut into the front of the gate in 1875 by the Ottoman Empire. Originally the gate was entered from the east (left) through a small door in a larger door (wicket gate) which was rarely opened. The road leading to this gate cuts through a 2000-year-old aqueduct, which can still be seen on the west (right) side of this gate by locating the aqueducts covering stones.
A section of the original L-shaped gate bears the inscription above the entrance on the south side. This Arabic inscription credits the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magniicent, who reigned from 1520-1566, with having built the walls and the gates around Jerusalem. The inscription also names Suleimans father Salim Khan and gives him the title conqueror of the Holy Land. This inscription is dated in the Muslim year 945 which would be 1538-1539.
Detail of the lower above Herods Gate.
The Damascus Gate is the most elegant of the Old City gates.
Damascus Gate
The Damascus Gate is the most impressive of Jerusalems gates. It is called Damascus Gate because the road coming out of it leads in the direction of Damascus. The Arabs call it the Gate of the Column (Bab el-Amud), a name that preserves the memory of a large column that once stood inside the gate, as seen on the Madaba map. Two towers stand on each side of the gate prepared for battle, and a very busy Arab bazaar (marketplace) is crowded and active just inside the gate.
The location of this gate today marks the location of a major city gate from when Herod Agrippa expanded the city walls in 41 AD. The bridge leading into the gate spans an area excavated by the British between 1917 and 1947 where the irst and second century gates were found. (This is an example of what might be found under todays Golden Gate if it were allowed to be excavated.) Excavation under the Damascus Gate revealed an ancient gate system from 41 BC. Here is one of the pedestrian entrances to Jerusalem built by Herod Agrippa II from 41-44 AD. The arch is a reconstruction completed by Hadrian in 135 AD.
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A smaller pedestrian entrance (seen in this photo) is located below and to the east (left) of the Damascus Gate. This pedestrian gate and its tower date from the time of Herod Agrippa Is expansion of the city walls to the north and west in 41-44 AD. He built a larger gate and this smaller gate at this location. The main walls and gate were destroyed by Hadrian in 135 AD, but this smaller pedestrian gate, its tower and molding on the lower half of the gate and the molding along the base of the tower still remain from Herod Agrippa Is original work in 41 AD. The arch and capping stone are from Hadrians restoration in 135 AD. After destroying the city and its walls in 135, Hadrian created a free-standing monumental entrance into Aelia
Capitolina at this location. It was then called the Nea Gate, or New Gate. Excavation under todays Damascus Gate has revealed a variety of inds from Jerusalems history, including base molding similar to the molding on each side of the small pedestrian gate. A stone with the mark of the Tenth Legion is also visible, along with paving stones from the irst century. Hadrian (or, an emperor who followed him) placed a large victory column in the middle of the plaza on the inside of this gate. This column, the plaza and the Nea Gate can be seen on the Madaba map.
New Gate
The New Gate was not part of the original 1535 design of Suleiman the Magniicent. Even though the New Gate is located just up the hill from the Damascus Gate in the north wall, there is clearly no comparison in grandeur. The New Gate was placed into the wall in 1887 by the Ottomans so that people could conveniently access the homes being built outside the city wall to the north. The sultan Abdul Hamid also wanted to assist the Christian pilgrims from Russia, (who stayed at the Russian Compound just outside these walls), so they could have easy access to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
The New Gate was built into the wall in 1887.
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Chapter 6
Periods, People and History

Periods of History
Neolilthic Chalcolithic Bronze Age, Early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age, Late Iron Age Persian Hellenistic Hasmonean Roman, Early 8500-4500 BC 4500-3300 BC 3300-2000 BC 2000-1550 BC 1550-1200 BC 1200-539 BC 539-332 BC 332-141 BC 141-63 BC 63 BC-70 AD Roman, Middle Roman, Late Byzantine Arab Muslim Crusader Mamluk Ottoman British State of Israel 70-200 AD 200-324 AD 324-638 AD 638-1099 AD 1099-1250 AD 1250-1517 AD 1517-1917 AD 1917-1947 AD 1948-present
An archaeological dig in 2007 next to the Western Wall under the ramp that leads up to the Morocco Gate.
Chapter 7
The History of Archaeology in Jerusalem

Although he never left the Netherlands, Adriaan Reland (1676-1718), a Dutchman, wrote a detailed geographical survey of Palestine in 1696. Edward Robinson, an American theologian, visited Jerusalem in 1838. He discovered Hezekiahs Tunnel and the remains of Herod Agrippas wall expansion from 41 AD. He also identiied the remains of an arch on the southwest corner of the Temple Mount, now called Robinsons Arch. He then published the irst topographical study of the land of Palestine in 1841. The irst archaeological dig in Jerusalem took place in 1863. Charles W. Wilson came to Jerusalem to help improve the water system, but he used this position as a cover to dig tunnels and shafts under the city to explore the ancient remains. His maps and diagrams are still used today. Wilson documented a series of arches and vaults that supported a bridge which led up to an entrance on the west side of the temple. Today these arches are called Wilsons Arch. In 1867 General Sir Charles Warren began a threeyear period of undercover excavation. The Ottoman government prohibited excavation around the Temple Mount, so Warren dug a series of vertical shafts a distance away from the Temple Mount walls and then turned and tunneled horizontally until he reached the wall. He discovered the huge blocks fallen from the Temple Mount, the gutter system and the foundation course of Herods Temple. Today 230 feet north of Robinsons arch, one of Warrens shafts that reaches the foundation of the Western Wall can still be seen. Warren also discovered the pier which supported Robinsons Arch 41 feet west of Robinsons Arch on the wall, and he identiied the shaft Joab used to enter the Jebusite city in Davids day. Today it is called Warrens Shaft. German Conrad Schick was shown the inscription inside Hezekiahs Tunnel in 1880 by two young boys. He also discovered a second tunnel running into the Pool of Siloam in 1886. Hermann Guthe used the book of Nehemiah in 1881 to uncover the eastern city wall on the eastern hill south of the Temple Mount. His excavation along the eastern slope began the debate that identiied this eastern hill as the original site of Jerusalem which David took from the Jebusites, the City of David. In 1923 R.A.S. Macalister and J.G. Duncan uncovered the eastern side of the City of David in the area of the Jebusite Tower and revealed the Stepped Stone Wall. From 1961-1967 Kathleen M. Kenyon excavated during the rule of the Jordanians after the war of 1948. She excavated Byzantine dwellings and other locations outside the south wall of the Temple Mount. Within a year of the Jews winning the Six Day War, Benjamin Mazar began a ten-year excavation period from 1968 to 1978. He represented Hebrew University and the Israel Exploration Society. He focused on the area southwest and south of the Temple Mount. His work in a large area extends from Robinsons Arch uncovered remains from the days of the First Temple and the Second Temple period to the Herodian street under Robinsons Arch and a stone bearing the inscription, to the trumpeting place to which had once stood on the Temple Mount itself. This cut stone marked the place for the priest to sound the trumpet to announce holy days to the people. It also served as a safety railing for the priests on the highest part of the southwest corner of the temple. Mazar also did extensive work on the Ophel south of the Temple Mount. In 1975 Meir Ben Dov excavated from the Dung Gate to the Zion Gate. He uncovered the Nea Church, Herodian residences and a large number of mikvah. Eilat Mazar, the granddaughter of Benjamin Mazar, began excavating in the City of David near the Gihon Spring in 1986. She has recently uncovered Davids Palace (2007) and a wall built by Solomon (2010). Besides the well-planned archaeological excavations described above there are also accidental excavations and incidental discoveries like the discovery of the tomb of Caiaphas, the High Priest who condemned Jesus. In December of 1990, modern construction equipment was being used south of the City of David in a forested area when the ceiling of an ancient tomb
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collapsed. Inside the tomb were burial chambers and ossuary boxes still illed with the bones of people from around 20-70 AD. Among the many ossuary boxes were two highly decorated boxes inscribed Joseph son of Caiaphas and another inscribed simply Caiaphas. In the boxes were bones of several people including the bones of a 60-year-old man who has been identiied as the High Priest Caiaphas who condemned Jesus in 30 AD. Josephus writes about this same Caiaphas identiied by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, but Josephus calls him Joseph Caiaphas (Jewish Antiquities 18:35) and Joseph who was called Caiaphas of the high priesthood (Jewish Antiquities 18:95). Caiaphas was high priest from 18-36 AD. Ossuary boxes were used to hold the bones of a deceased person. The dead body was laid on a stone slab in the tomb for about a year. By that time the body would have decomposed, and the bones were collected and placed in an ossuary box. This box then would have been kept in the tomb along with the ossuary boxes of other family members. Archaeological terrorism in Jerusalem has occurred in the past and continues today. Under Jordanian rule from 1948-1967 a Jewish cemetery with graves dating from the time of Herods Temple in the irst century was destroyed. Approximately 38,000 graves and tombstones, some from the irst century, were smashed or removed for use as paving stones. In addition, recent photos of the Temple Mount indicate that under Muslim control, Solomons Stables below the southeast side of the Temple Mount have been converted into a mosque. Construction equipment was used to dig up a large area of the Temple Mount and move the stone, debris, and ancient masonry stones to the Kidron Valley. A large stone staircase and entryway down into Solomons Stables has been built at the site of the hole dug into the Temple Mount. The construction was completed in 2010, and can be seen in the photos below. The Double Gate Tunnel was also converted to a mosque.
The Eastern Wall of the Old City can be seen along the back edge of the Temple Mount, with the Mount of Olives in the background. In the forefront, the surface of the Temple Mount is seen with a huge hole cut into the ancient remains. The recently installed stairway descends under the Temple Mount to an entrance into Solomons Stables which is now called a mosque by the Muslims. The extent of the damage to this area is unknown since the Temple Mount has never been excavated, and all the material was removed, destroyed and dumped into the Kidron Valley.
This photo is taken from the surface of the Temple Mount at the top of the new staircase looking south. This staircase leads to an entrance into "Solomon's Stables which the Muslims have now claimed to be a mosque. The east wall of the Temple Mount is to the left in this photo.
Remains of debris and stones on the Temple Mount from construction. Despite the destruction of historical evidence by archaeological terrorism, much of Jerusalem remains unexcavated because areas of interest lie under residences, holy sites or the Temple Mount itself. The many discoveries made have been fairly recent considering the long 2,000-year history of the city. Today, archaeological breakthroughs are occurring at a more rapid pace and are being processed more accurately than ever before. The historical reliability of the Scriptures continues to be reinforced through archaeology. Each discovery helps us read the pages of the Bible with a greater level of insight and understanding.
Construction blocks can still be seen on the Temple Mount. The new stairway can be seen in the background in the top right of this photo.
A shaft below the Western Wall tunnels that was used to explore the archaeological layers of the City of Jerusalem.
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Section B: Topography
Chapter 8
Old Ancient Core

The city of Jerusalem today has a population of more than 750,000. The current population in the Old City is about 35,000, 77% of which are Muslim. There are 2,387 residences in the Jewish Quarter; 2,461 in the Armenian Quarter; 5,276 in the Christian Quarter; and 25,248 in the Muslim Quarter (Peace Now Report, 8/22/2005). Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, this holy mountain. It (Jerusalem) is beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth. Like the utmost heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King. - Psalm 48:1-2 Jerusalems original location was not chosen because of its proximity to major roads. In fact, it is far from the international highways of the coastal plain and Transjordan. The closest major roads in Old Testament times were located a half mile to the west (the southern Ridge Route) and more than ive miles to the north (running from Gezer to Jericho). The most desirable feature of the site was the natural defense provided by hills and valleys to the south and east combined with a dificult approach from the west due to climbing elevations and the deep rugged valleys of the Judean hill country. Jerusalem sat on a rugged hill at the height of the hill country of Judea on local roads going nowhere and surrounded by the natural defense of valleys. This meant foreign invaders travelling through the land would often bypass Jerusalem entirely. The original city of the Jebusites, which became the City of David, is located on a ridge south of Mount Moriah known as the Old Ancient Core. This ridge of rock (also called the Eastern Ridge) which became the city of Melchizedek, the Jebusites and David was lower than Mount Moriah to the north, lower than the larger Western Hill to the west, and lower and smaller than the Mount of Olives to the east. Yet, it was here on the western edge of the Kidron Valley, on the Old Ancient Core, that Jerusalem was settled. This particular location was chosen because it has the largest water source in the area. Water was continually supplied to this area through the gushing of the Gihon Springs located along the eastern ridge of the Kidron Valley.
Topography and elevation of Jerusalem as viewed from the south. Todays Mount Zion sits on the Western Ridge (Western Hill) and the City of David sits on the Old Ancient Core called the Eastern Ridge (Eastern Hill).
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Some Facts about Jerusalem
The northern border is not deined by valleys, but is easily approachable and was the most dificult area to defend against approaching armies; thus, fortresses and towers were built on the north side of the city. The Central Valley (or, Tyropoeon Valley, which means Valley of Cheesemakers) runs through the middle of the city; this valley was illed in to level the city between the Hinnom and Kidron valleys. The Central Valley today runs from just north of the Damascus Gate along ha-Gai Street; it separates todays Temple Mount from the Jewish Quarter. The Central Valley distinguished the Eastern Hill (City of David) from the Western Hill (which is where the city expanded to during the time of the Kings). Mount Zion sits on the south end of the Western Hill, and the Hinnom Valley bends around Mount Zions west and south sides. The City of David sits on the Eastern Hill. The Gihon Springs are on the eastern slopes of this Eastern Hill and provide water for the city while also watering the Kidron Valley. Mount Moriah sits immediately to the north of the City of David and is, in a sense, part of the Eastern Hill. The area between the City of David and Mount Moriah on the Eastern Hill is called the Ophel. The city of David covers 15 acres; three of these acres are located on the slopes leading down into the Kidron Valley. Jerusalem is 33 miles east of the Mediterranean Sea and 14 miles west of the Dead Sea. Jerusalem is 3,800 feet above the level of the Dead Sea and 2,550 feet above sea level.
Jerusalem has three valleys: Hinnom, Central and Kidron. There are three ridges or hills: Western Hill (with Mt. Zion), Eastern Hill (with Mt. Moriah) and the Mount of Olives. Ancient Jerusalem sat on several hills. The eastern border is the Kidron Valley. The Kidron Valley separates Jerusalem from Mount Scopus (aka, the Mount of Olives). The western border is the Hinnom Valley, which turns to run along the south side also, and meets the Kidron Valley. The spring of En Rogel is located at the meeting place of the Hinnom and Kidron valleys.
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Looking from the south, this is a view of the Old Ancient Core (the Eastern Hill) in the center of the photo, outside todays city walls. The steep Kidron Valley can be seen to the right of the Old Ancient Core. The Dome of the Rock (located on the Most Holy Place on Mount Moriah) can be seen higher up the Eastern Hill inside the city walls. The Central Valley has been illed in for 2,500 years, but the rise of the Western Hill can be seen on the left edge of the photo. The southern wall of todays Old City can be seen climbing up the Western Hill.
A view of Jerusalem from the south.
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Chapter 9
Kidron Valley
The view standing in the Kidron Valley looking south. The Mount of Olives is to the left and the Temple Mount is to the right at the top of Mount Moriah. The Kidron Valley runs north-south between the Mount of Olives and the eastern wall of the Temple Mount and the City of David. This valley actually continues all the way to the Dead Sea. The total length of the valley is 20 miles, and it falls 4,000 feet. The Gihon Springs naturally illed this valley, but the settlers of Jerusalem diverted the water into pools and channels to be used by the city. The Bible describes David leeing across this valley and up the Mount of Olives to escape his son Absalom (2 Samuel 15:13-30). King Asa worshipped here at pagan altars with idols and Asherah poles (1 Kings 15:13). Athaliah was executed here after her evil reign in Judah was brought to a violent end (2 Kings 11:16). Today there are many tombs and graves in the Kidron, since burying people here became a practice in the days of Josiah (2 Kings 23:6).
The days are coming, declares the Lord, when this city will be rebuilt... The whole valley where dead bodies and ashes are thrown, and all the terraces out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the corner of the Horse Gate, will be holy to the Lord. The city will never again be uprooted or demolished. - Jeremiah 31:38-40
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Looking down into the steep Kidron Valley from the City of David located on the Eastern Hill or the Old Ancient Core. This photo is looking up from the Kidron Valley at the southeast corner of the Temple Mount Wall. In the days of the New Testament, the building on this corner of the Temple Mount would have been even higher. Josephus describes the view from the roof of the Royal Stoa, or Solomons Porch, saying: It was a structure more noteworthy than any under the sun. The height of the portico was so great that if anyone looked down from its rooftop he would become dizzy and his vision would be unable to reach the end of so measureless a depth. - Josephus, Antiquities 15.412 It is important to realize that the Kidron Valley was much deeper 2,000 years ago. The bottom of the Kidron Valley has been raised by the rubble and debris of centuries falling into it. This is where Jesus was tempted by Satan to jump: Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. If you are the Son of God, he said, throw yourself down. Matthew 4:8
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Chapter 10
Central Valley
(Tyropoeon Valley i.e., Valley of the Cheesemakers) The Central Valley ran along the western wall of the Temple Mount just like the Kidron Valley runs along the eastern wall of the Temple Mount. The paved Herodian street seen today along the western wall under Robinsons Arch follows its old course. Presently, the Central Valley runs under the Damascus Gate south, then southeast through the middle of the Old City, to the Pool of Siloam and meets the Hinnom and Kidron valleys south of the City of David. On only one occasion Josephus refers to the Central Valley as the Tyropoeon Valley which means Valley of the Cheesemakers.
The Central Valley was a rugged ravine, like the Kidron and Hinnom, that separated Mount Moriah (Eastern Hill) from Mount Zion (Western Hill). Bridges were even built to span the distance between the two hills. The Central Valley began to be leveled off intentionally in the days of Hezekiah, and over the centuries, debris from the destruction and rebuilding of Jerusalem have, for all practical purposes, completely illed in the Central Valley leaving it level with the incline that rises to become the Western Hill. There may be as much as 70 feet of debris in the Central Valley.
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Chapter 11
Hinnom Valley
The Hinnom Valley is also called the valley of the son of Hinnom or Valley of Benhinnom. This was shortened to Valley Hinnom which in Hebrew is pronounced, Ge Hinnom and transliterated into Greek as Gehenna. Thus, the Hinnom Valley is the Gehenna of the New Testament, which is associated with ire, judgment, the Lake of Fire, eternal ire and Hell. The border for the land allotted to the tribe of Judah is partially identiied with this valley by Joshua in 1400 BC: Then it ran up the Valley of Ben Hinnom along the southern slope of the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem). From there it climbed to the top of the hill west of the Hinnom Valley at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim. - Joshua 15:8 At its lowest point, the Hinnom Valley is also the lowest point in the city of Jerusalem. If the Temple Mount on Mount Moriah is the highest point in the city and represents the presence of the Lord, then the lowest point of the city would also have illustrative value. This can be seen by comparing Amos and Isaiahs use of topographical typology: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. - Isaiah 2:3 Though they dig down to the depths of Sheol, from there my hand will take them. - Amos 9:2
Figure 1 - Today the Hinnom Valley is covered with green grass. This photo was taken on the west side of the Mount of Olives near the southwest corner of the Old City walls. An Arab family is resting in the shade of a tree while their children play in the Hinnom Valley.
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Add to this the geographical fact that the wilderness began where the Hinnom Valley ended, and we have a perfect illustration of the realm of demons (Leviticus 16:10) and the chaos that was conquered (Genesis 1:2, 3). When the people of Judah began to worship demons and offer their children in the ire, they did it in the Hinnom Valley. When Josiah became king, he went down into the Hinnom Valley where children had been sacriiced to demons, and he desecrated the altar/ image (or, the burner called Topheth) that the wicked people used to burn their children as an offering to the god Molech: He (Josiah) desecrated Topheth (the burner), which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacriice his son or daughter in the ire to Molech. - 2 Kings 23:10 When God spoke through Isaiah of the coming judgment he also spoke of the burner: Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its ire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of ire and wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze. - Isaiah 30:33
The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the Lord. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have deiled it (Solomons Temple). They have built the high places of Topheth (the burner) in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the ire something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind. So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. - Jeremiah 7:31-33
Looking down into the Hinnom Valley from Jerusalem.
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The Hinnom Valley had become a place associated not only with the lowest point and the path to the wilderness of demonic chaos, but also as a place of hideous demon worship that demanded the burning of living children. The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah had condemned this valley as surely as King Josiah had shut it down. It became a rejected part of the city that was converted to a burning pit to dump the citys garbage. In 27 AD Jesus made reference to this location calling it by the Greek name Gehenna when he said: Anyone who says, You fool! will be in danger of the ire of hell (or, in the Greek, Gehenna). - Matthew 5:22 Likewise, James, Jesus brother, writing from Jerusalem around 48 AD says of the tongue: It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on ire, and is itself set on ire by hell (or, in the Greek, Gehenna). - James 3:6 Tombs from the time of the New Testament in the southern end of the Hinnom Valley. Herods family tomb is located in this area, although Herods tomb was uncovered at the Herodium in April of 2007. The slopes of the Hinnom Valley were used for tombs by the wealthiest Jewish families in the irst century. Josephus says the tomb of Annas the high priest is located in this area and such a monument has been identiied. There are more than 30 tombs cut and excavated in the lower southern side of the Hinnom Valley by a monastery dedicated to Saint Onuphrius.
Looking south down the Hinnom Valley in the evening outside the Joppa Gate and the west wall of the city. The Citadel can be seen in the top left corner of this photo.
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Chapter 12
Mount of Olives
The Mount of Olives is a two-mile long ridge, or foot hill, with three summits on it. Just to the east of the Mount of Olives is the wilderness (i.e., desert) that leads down to Jericho and the Jordan Valley. It is named after the groves of olive trees that grew there in the Old and New Testament times. David ascended the Mount of Olives when he led from his son Absalom (2 Samuel 15:30), and Solomon built temples for foreign gods there on what is called the Hill of Corruption in 2 Kings 23:13. Details of several of Jesus activities on the Mount of Olives are recorded in the gospels. This has led to numerous churches being built on these holy sites from the time of the Byzantine Empire in the early days of the church. When Jesus was in Jerusalem he often stayed in Bethany, a village on the east side of the Mount of Olives, about a two-mile walk southwest of Jerusalem. The walk from Jerusalem to Bethany took Jesus through Gethsemane and straight up to the summit of the Mount of Olives (then along the ridge), which is today a modern road to Bethphage. Following another ridge, the road then leads into Bethany. It is believed that the Jewish Messiah will appear on the Mount of Olives. This belief has led centuries of Jews dating back to the Old Testament to place their graves here. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley. - Zechariah 14:4
A view looking east at the irst and second summits of the Mount of Olives. The Garden of Gethsemane is on the left, in the middle of the photo above the road. The Kidron Valley runs parallel to the bottom of the photo.
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The three summits of the Mount of Olives can be seen. The glory of the Lord went up from within the city and stopped above the mountain east of it. - Ezekiel 11:23 Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. - Ezekiel 43:1, 2 Jesus seemed to accept this teaching and testiied to it by ascending back into heaven from the Mount of Olives. His ascension was followed by the conirming statement of the angels that Jesus would return the same way he left. When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. - Luke 24:50 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly to men dressed in white stood beside them. Men of Galilee, they said, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives. - Acts 1:9-12 Considering 1) the support of Old Testament prophecy, 2) the conirmation of Jesus by his ascension, and 3) the words of the angels, it is clear that Jesus, the Messiah, will return to the Mount of Olives and enter the new Temple in Jerusalem.
The third summit is covered with Jewish Graves because of verses like Zechariah 14:4 and Ezekiel 43:1-2 that indicate the Messiah will appear on the Mount of Olives.
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Chapter 13
Mount Moriah
Mount Moriah is the mount on which Abraham offered Isaac in Genesis 22. In 1 Chronicles 21 it is identiied as the location of Arunah (or, Ornan) the Jebusite threshing loor that David bought for 600 shekels of gold. This purchase is an important fact since it demonstrates that the Jews received this area through a legal transaction. They have never sold the rights to Mount Moriah. King David said to Ornan, No, but I will buy them for the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing. So David paid Ornan 600 shekels of gold by weight for the site. And David built there an altar to the Lord and presented burnt offerings. - 1 Chronicles 21:24, 25 Mount Moriah is where Solomon built his Temple. Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed on the threshing loor of Ornan the Jebusite. - 2 Chronicles 3:1 Mount Moriah is a ridge of rock that rises from the junction point of the Hinnom and Kidron valleys. It rises through the City of David and reaches its highest elevation just northeast of the Damascus Gate in the Old City. The Temple Mount today covers about 45 acres and is built around the outcropping of the bedrock under the Dome of the Rock. It is about 118 feet lower than the highest point of Mount Moriah.
The top bedrock of Mount Moriah just outside the Dome of the Rock. This is part of the same bedrock where the Ark of the Covenant sat in Solomon's Temple on Mount Moriah. The bedrock in this photo is covered by the Muslims Dome of the Spirits about 285 feet north of the location where the Ark of the Covenant sat in the Most Holy Place.
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Chapter 14
Western Hill
The Western Hill was not settled until the area around the Eastern Hill (the City of David) began to ill up. People then began moving outside the walls of the City of David and across the Central Valley to the Western Hill. When the Assyrian Empire invaded northern Israel in 723, BC many of the Jews from Israel led south into Judah and settled in Jerusalem. They also settled outside the walls of the city on the Western Hill. Hezekiah eventually built a wall around this new western suburb in preparation for the Assyrian attack of Judah in 701 BC. (Part of this Broad Wall can still be seen.) This portion of the city fell in 586 BC to the Babylonians along with the rest of the city. When the exiles returned it was settled again after the days of Nehemiah. By the time of the New Testament, the Central Valley had been illed in and the city had again expanded to cover the Western Hill. Herods palace was built along the west wall on the Western Hill, as were many of the wealthy residences of New Testament Jerusalem, including the mansion of the high priest. Jesus would have been brought to the Western Hill to appear before Annas and Caiaphas. It is quite possible that the Upper Room, used during the Last Supper and on the Day of Pentecost, was also on this Western Hill. Today the Christian Quarter and the Armenian Quarter inside the walls of the Old City are on the Western Hill. The area south of the Armenian Quarter outside the walls is today called Mount Zion, and it is also part of the Western Hill. (In scripture, Mount Zion originally referred to the Eastern Hill, or the City of David. Mount Zion then began to refer to the northern part of Mount Moriah, or the Temple Mount. Early Christians of the Byzantine and Crusader periods wrongly identiied the southern part of the Western Hill as Mount Zion, but it maintains that name to this day.)
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Chapter 15
Ophel
The Ophel is part of the Eastern Hill that sits between the City of David and the Temple Mount. The word ophel means swell or rise and refers to a higher part of the landscape. The Jebusites built their citadel there, as did David, who also added a lot more fortiication to this northern part of his city. The Ophel is mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 and 33: Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the temple of the Lord and did extensive work on the wall at the hill of Ophel. - 2 Chronicles 27:3 Afterward he (Manasseh) rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David, west of the Gihon spring in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate and encircling the hill of Ophel; he also made it much higher. - 2 Chronicles 33:14 This part of the city was always heavily fortiied, as seen in Nehemiah 3:26, Isaiah 32:14 and Micah 4:8. Extensive building took place in this area from the days of David right up to the modern excavation of the Ophel just south of the Temple Mount.
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Section C: Old Testament

Chapter 16
Salem, Jebus, Jerusalem (2000-1000 BC)

When Abraham entered the land of Canaan around 2000 BC the city of Jerusalem was called Salem (Genesis 14). After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the Kings Valley). Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand. Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. - Genesis 14:17-20 Melchizedeks city was called Salem, or Shalem, which is also the name of the God whose worship was centered in the city. The full name of this God was God Most High, Creator of Heaven and Earth since he was the God of creation. It is interesting to note that Abram recognizes this God in verse 22 when he swears by his name and, at the same time, calls him Lord which is the word YHWH, the name of the covenant God of Israel: Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have raised my hand to the Lord (YHWH), God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you. - Genesis 14:22-23 The name of the city Jerusalem was originally Yerushalem. We already know that shalem comes from the name of the God worshipped in the city by Melchizedek. (The Jews taught that Melchizedek was Noahs son Shem, who, according to biblical records, was still alive at this time.) The word yeru means foundation stone or cornerstone. The name Jerusalem, then, means the foundation stone of Shalem and refers to the original cornerstone laid by the Creator of the Universe when he built the earth. Melchizedek was the king of this city, which was located on the southern part of the Eastern Hill between the Kidron Valley and the Central Valley. Abraham met Melchizedek in the Valley of Shaveh, that is the Kings Valley (Genesis 14:17). This would be at the south end of the ridge of the city where the Kidron and Hinnom valleys meet. Melchizedek was also a priest of God Most High, who was Abrahams God as well. Abraham was in Jerusalem again a few years later when he offered Isaac on Mount Moriah, as described in Genesis 22. Mount Moriah is on the northern end of the Eastern Hill that Melchizedeks city sat on. So, in Genesis 14, Abraham met Melchizedek on the south end of the Eastern Hill in the valley, but in Genesis 22 he went to the highest point, the north end, of that same ridge. Around the time of Jacob and Joseph (1800-1700 BC), Jerusalem, or Rushalimum, is mentioned in an Egyptian text as a chief city in the central hill country with two rulers named Yqaram and Shasan. Just a few years later in another Egyptian text, the name Jerusalem is mentioned along with the name of one single ruler, which is illegible. Canaanites continued to live in the city through the days of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jacobs 12 sons. After the Hebrews spent 400 years in Egypt and 40 years in the wilderness, Joshua led them into the Promised Land. The Jebusites (also called Amorites) were a group of Canaanites. The kings name at that time was Adonizedek (Joshua 10:1-3) who appears to be an heir or descendent of Melchizedek. (Notice the spelling: Melchi-zedek.) The Zedek family, or the Zedek title, had been ruling Jerusalem from 2000 to 1400 BC. In about the year 1404 BC, Adoni-zedek met Joshua on that fateful day when the sun stood still and was killed by Joshua (Joshua 10:3; 12:7, 10). Joshua continued to lead the Israelites through this Promised Land given to Abraham by God. After Joshuas death, the men of Judah attacked and captured Jerusalem. The people in the city were slaughtered and the city was burnt.
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The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem also and took it. They put the city to the sword and set it on ire. - Judges 1:8 After that time the city of Jerusalem was resettled by Jebusites and the city was named Jebus by its inhabitants. Judah could not dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the people of Judah. - Joshua 15:63 The Amarna Collection was found in Egypt in 1887. It is a collection of ancient letters written on clay tablets varying in size from 2 x 2.5 inches up to 3.5 x 9 inches. A substantial amount of the content of the letters written to Pharaoh Amenhotep III (1410-1377 BC) are appeals from many of the kings in Canaan for military help and provisions. At that time the land of Canaan was being overrun by invaders referred to in the letters as Haibru. The word Habiru simply means nomadic invaders, but its pronunciation sounds like the name of a people called Hebrews who invaded the same land of Canaan in a similar fashion at the very same time. The Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt is dated as occurring in the year 1444 BC. After 40 years in the wilderness the Hebrews would have entered Canaan in 1405-1404 BC. For the next seventy years, letters written from the land of Canaan focus on the chaos and ighting caused by these Habiru invaders. A letter sent to Pharaoh Amenhotep IV of Egypt between 1350 and 1334 BC from Jerusalem has survived among the Amarna letters. The letter is from Abdi-Hepa, the ruler of Jerusalem, which indicates that Jerusalem was an important city at that time. In these letters Abdi-Hepa, a Hittite name, discusses a failed attempt to break into his palace in order to assassinate him. The natural location of this palace fortress would be the same place in Jerusalem that the kings before him and after him would choose: the north edge of the city near the Ophel. (David would eventually take this fortress around 1005 BC). In these letters the ruler of Jerusalem is clearly having trouble with invaders and raiding parties a generation after Joshua brought Israel into the land of Canaan. Abdi-Hepa was asking for help from the Egyptian Pharaoh. Jebus, or Jerusalem, is also mentioned in the account of a traveling Levite in the book of Judges from roughly around 1200 BC: Unwilling to stay another night the man left and went toward Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine. When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, Come, lets stop at this city of the Jebusites and spend the night. His master replied, No. We wont go into an alien city, whose people are not Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah. - Judges 19:10-12 By Davids day in 1005 BC, these Jebusites had built up the southern half of the Eastern Hill. The Jebusites had built walls around their city and had added considerable defensive structures on the north end in the middle of the Eastern Hill in the area called the Ophel. The northern section of the ridge, Mount Moriah, was being used as a threshing loor (2 Samuel 24:16-24). This city covered about 10 acres. When David was 37-years-old and had reigned in Hebron for 7 years his men entered the city of Jerusalem through the water system and took it from the Jebusites (2 Samuel 5:4-9). David began extensive building in Jerusalem which he renamed the City of David. The Bible says that David captured the stronghold of Jerusalem, which would be the same palace fortress mentioned by Adbi-Hepa and used for centuries by the kings who proceeded David: The Jebusites said to David, You will not get in here.. . . . Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion, the City of David. . . . David then took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built up the area around it, from the supporting terraces (Millo) inward. - 2 Samuel 5:6-7, 9
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Chapter 17
Millo and the Jebusite Wall (2000-1000 BC)

The Millo is part of the City of David. It is the rampart built by the Jebusites before David conquered the city. The Millo consists of the terraces and retaining walls on the eastern slope of the southeastern spur that supported the buildings above. The Millo is the Stepped Stone Structure uncovered by Kathleen Kenyon. Eilat Mazar has uncovered the Large Stone Structure (Davids Palace) that sat on the Millo.
The Stepped Stone Structure at what is believed to be the location of the Jebusite Wall. This photo includes 1) a glacis, a steep sloped wall for protection, which is called the Millo in 2 Samuel 5:9 from 1100-1000 BC 2) remains of residences from 1200 BC 3) retaining walls from 1200 BC 4) rooms used from 700-586 BC 5) walls built by Nehemiah.
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Diagram detailing the Stepped Stone Structure A massive stepped podium for the Canaanite-Jebusite palace/fortress that was also used as Davids palace. Eilat Mazar dates the building of this structure from the period of 1200-1000 BC. This Stepped Stone Structure was the work of the Jebusites during the days of the Judges, and the work of David around 1000 BC.
The House of Ahiel. This four-room house was built into and over the Millo around 650 BC in the days of young Josiah and Jeremiah. The staircase to the left (seen in photos below) would have provided access to the homes lat roof. A stone with a hole in it was found in a corner of the small room. This stone is the toilet seat that sat over a cesspit about 6.5 feet deep.
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A view looking down at the sloped wall built by the Jebusites and reinforced by David, which served as a protective wall (glacis) but also as a terraced support system called the Millo in scripture. The straight wall with the right-angled corner in the background is from the days of Nehemiah. The remains between the Jebusite wall and Nehemiahs wall are the ruins of the ribs of retaining walls from the 1200s BC designed to hold ill. Just in front of them is the beginning of rooms dating from 700-586 BC.
Details of the House of Ahiel: The four columns would have supported a lat roof. The staircase would have provided access to the lat roof. Notice the square box in the small room on the lower rightthis is the bathroom. The toilet seat, or the box, can be seen in photos below. This structure is called the House of Ahiel because two pieces of pottery (ostraca) were found with his name on it when this home was excavated. (Photo from 2010 with both back pillars standing.)
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The stairs to access the roof of the House of Ahiel can be seen on the left in this photo. (Photo from 2007, with the back right pillar leaning in the corner.) Between the lowest part of the stepped stone structure and the outer wall of the city, ancient citizens built several stepped terraces to support and provide a platform for the buildings above. One of the terraces excavated was 40 feet wide and 88 feet long. In two upper terraces three separate structures were identiied: 1. In the middle terrace: A four-room house built in two levels. Two ostraca (pieces of pottery broken from a vase or earthenware) were found with the name Ahiel inscribed on them. This structure was named the House of Ahiel. Also found in this four-room structure were many other small items and pottery vessels. 2. In the middle terrace: To the north (right) of the House of Ahiel was the Burnt Room that showed signs of the intense ire suffered during the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC, as prophesied by Jeremiah. The remains of burnt
This toilet seat sat in the corner of the small room in the House of Ahiel. This would have provided the fourroom home with a bathroom.
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wood included imported wood from northern Syria with carved palmette patterns (an artistic design of the fan-shaped leaves of palm trees), furniture and parts of the roof beam. Also found in this room were pottery, stone vessels, bone vessels and a metal spoon. 3. In the lower terrace: 16 feet below the House of Ahiel was a narrow building where 51 bullae (round clay seals with an impression afixed to a rolled document) were found. This structure is called the House of Bullae. One of the bullae was impressed with the name Gemariah son of Shaphan who is mentioned in Jeremiah 36:9-12. Gemariah was a scribe in the court of Jehoiakim during the kings ifth year (604 BC). Since this royal scribes impression was found in this room of documents, we can infer that this burnt House of Bullae was some form of royal archive or public ofice. Other bullae located here were impressed with Hebrew names such as: Belonging to Benayahu son of Hoshaiah, Belonging to Azaryahu son of Hilkiahu, Belonging to Azrikam Michyahu, Belonging to Elishama son of Samachiah. The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land gives us some additional insight and information concerning the details identiied in this Stepped Stone Structure: The Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC is well documented in the biblical sources (2 Kings 25:8-10; 2 Chronicles 36:18-19), which describe the destruction, burning, and collapse of houses and walls. The archaeological evidence for this phase in Jerusalems history, which rounds out the historical account, can be counted among the more dramatic at any biblical site. Alongside the Israelite tower cleared by Avigad in the north of the city was a thick conlagration layer, in which arrow heads were found, that may have been ired when the citys northern defenses were being breached. In addition, many of the buildings excavated by Shiloh, mainly in areas E and G, were also destroyed in a ierce conlagration: the Ashlar House, the House of Ahiel, the Burnt Room, and the House of the Bullae. Their walls collapsed and buried abundant and rich inds, including large quantities of pottery; dozens of metal and stone vessels; bone implements, and considerable epigraphic material. The dozens of lat iron arrowheads of the local type and triangular bronze arrowheads of the so-called Scythian type found in the houses bear mute witness to the battle for the city on the eve of its destruction, as the inhabitants amassed ammunition in their homes. The destruction of these residential quarters, which resembles that on the western hill and in one section of the house of Millo cleared by B. Mazar, was total. The rubble was preserved in some of the buildings up to the height of their irst-story ceiling. Perhaps the most graphic telling of the story is Nehemiahs description of the ruins in the City of David as he found them in his tour of the city, some 140 years later (Nehemiah 2:13-14). - The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, Volume 2, The Israel Exploration Society and Carta, 1993, page 709
The Stepped-Stone Structure with the house of Ahiel cut into it and the toilet seat. The Burnt Room is to the right of the toilet. Evidence of the Babylonian ire of 586 BC and the charred remains of imported wood, a roof beam, pottery, stone vessels and a metal spoon from that time were found here.
This is a view of the deep drop down into the Kidron Valley from the base of the Stepped Stone Structure. Imagine David and Joab looking up at the Jebusites who were on top of the Stepped Stone Structure and understanding what they meant when they said, You will never get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off (2 Samuel 5:6). With this sort of natural and constructed defensive system, its no wonder they said what they did. David ordered Joab to use the water system from the Gihon Springs further down this ridge to enter the city.
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Chapter 18
Gihon Springs
The main water source of the original City of David was the Gihon Springs located at the base of the eastern slope of the city in the Kidron Valley. The Gihon Springs provided water year round by gushing forth several times a day. This water then naturally lowed into the Kidron Valley. In the earliest days of Jerusalems occupation, reservoirs where built to collect the water from the Gihon Springs. Three systems were eventually designed to use this water: 1. Warren's Shaft 2. Siloam Channel (Tunnel) 3. Hezekiah's Tunnel These three water systems continued to bring water to the city of Jerusalem until the days of the Hasmoneans and Herod. During the last century BC and the irst century AD, aqueducts were built to transfer water into Jerusalem from the southern hill country of Judea from around Hebron and Bethlehem.
The vertical shaft seen above, known today as Warrens Shaft, was used by the Jebusites to get water from a reservoir located below the city. The water from the Gihon Springs illed the reservoir. Joab followed David's advice and led a division of soldiers up this shaft and into the city of Jebus, or Jerusalem, around the year 996 BC. the shaft where it could be collected by people who had descended down the stairs and though the 135 foot horizontal tunnel. A hydrogeological survey of this water system revealed that both the vertical shaft and the horizontal tunnel were natural openings that were adapted and cut wider by ancient city planners. This is the water shaft used by David and his men to enter and attack Jerusalem when it was occupied by the Jebusites in 2 Samuel 5:8: And David said on that day, Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack.
The City of David, formerly called Salem and Jebus, sits on the southern part of the Eastern Hill or the eastern ridge with Mount Moriah further up on this same ridge to the north. Warrens Shaft was discovered in 1867 by Charles Warren. The shaft has a rock-hewn opening with steps descending into a horizontal tunnel that runs for about 135 feet to a depth of about 42 feet. The tunnel ends at the top of a vertical shaft that goes straight down into the Gihon Springs about 40 feet below. This 40 foot vertical shaft was used to draw or pump water up
The water from the Gihon Springs followed a natural tunnel to the base of the shaft discovered by Warren. This shaft was developed from a natural sinkhole that extended down to the natural tunnel of water from the Gihon Springs. City planners widened the sinkhole and developed a tunnel to reach it from the upper ground level of the city from within the citys walls. Warrens Shaft functioned like a well. A person at the top of the shaft in the inclined tunnel could lower a bucket on a rope to the bottom of the 40 foot shaft to get fresh water from the reservoir below. A person could reach this inclined tunnel by entering a vaulted chamber
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Details of the natural water supply from the Gihon Springs and the water system developed by the Jebusites, David, Hezekiah and others. This Gihon Spring still ills the water system today. from the ground level, walking down a steep, stepped tunnel, then using a ladder to descend a nine-foot scarp drop to arrive in the inclined tunnel. The entrance to this water system was within the city walls, while the Gihon Springs were outside the walls. Joab could have entered the city through Warren's Shaft, or he may have used the natural tunnel before it was blocked (see diagram and photo above), to access the inclined plane and ascend into the city. This is a view of one of the two towers in the Gihon Tower excavation in 2007, looking from the Kidron Valley toward the city wall.
The "natural cave" shown in the diagram above that was blocked. This photo shows it from the inside.
Details of the water system and the City of David.
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This photo was taken from the same location in the Gihon Tower in 2010. Excavation has made some progress by discovering a walkway along the top of a wall in the Gihon Towers. (See images below to compare the progress of the excavation.)
Artist's conception in 2010 of the Gihon Springs Towers
Artist's conception in 2007 of the Gihon Springs Towers
Looking down on the remains of the Gihon Towers that extend toward the Kidron Valley and enclose the Gihon Springs for protection.
Excavation of the Gihon Springs and the Gihon Towers
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This channel is called the Canaanite Tunnel. It is 394 feet long and takes about 10 minutes to walk through today. Straight ahead to Hezekiahs Tunnel (701 BC). Turn left to enter the Canaanite Tunnel (1200 BC or earlier) cut before the time of David.
Descending to the Gihon Springs and the tunnels cut into the bedrock under the City of David.
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Chapter 19
City of David (1000 BC)
A model showing the location of early Jerusalem, or the City of David. Notice the steep, rugged Kidron Valley to the right (east). By the days of the New Testament the Central Valley was either illed in or spanned with bridges. Mount Moriah is part of this eastern ridge on which the City of David sits, but is further up the ridge toward the top of the photo (north). Another image of early Jerusalem from the days of Melchizedek (2000 BC) until David (1000 BC).
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Early Jerusalem labeled and viewed from the Mount of Olives to the east. Notice the Stepped Stone Structure (Millo).
Mount Moriah to the north of the walls of the City of David. This northern portion of the eastern ridge would be purchased by David from a Jebusite, and Solomon would build the Temple here.
A detailed image of the Stepped Stone Structure with the stronghold/fortress and palace of David on the top inside. The Gihon Springs and their protective towers are below in the Kidron Valley.
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Chapter 20
Davids Palace (990 BC)

Eilat Mazar has been excavating on the site of King Davids palace since 2005. She has uncovered a large building that sat above the Jebusite wall (the Stepped Stone retaining wall). The Jebusite wall was built between 1200 and 1000 BC, and the large building, known as the Large Stone Structure, was built just after 1000 BC during the reign of David. Mazar identiied this Large Stone Structure as the royal House of Cedar which was King Davids palace as described in 2 Samuel 5:11: Now Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedar logs and carpenters and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David. 2 Samuel 5:11-12 This is a view from Davids palace looking down into the Kidron Valley. The Mount of Olives and its three summits can be seen to the right running along the Kidron Valley. The southeast corner of the Temple Mount can be seen on the left edge of the photo.
Inside the Large Stone Structure that sits on top of the Stepped Stone Structure. This Large Stone Structure has been identiied as the palace of David. The pottery uncovered here indicates it was not built until the time of David, around 1000 BC.
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Standing inside David's palace looking at the excavated walls.
Inside Davids palace, also known as the Large Stone Structure, on the top of the Stepped Stone Structure. This Jebusite fortress would have sat to the south of the new palace, guarding the northern wall of the old Jebusite city. This means Davids palace would have originally been built outside the walls of the city on the north. Davids palace was beautiful and luxurious, but when the Philistines invaded the land to assassinate him he returned to the protection of the old fortress within the walls of the city: When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they went up in full force to search for him, but David heard about it and went down to the stronghold. - 2 Samuel 5:17 Looking along a wall of Davids palace toward the east. It is worth noting that Davids palace was new construction in his day. The Jebusites former fortress that he had taken was left standing. David moved into that Jebusite fortress after his conquest of Jerusalem and lived there until his palace was built: David then took up residence in the fortress. - 2 Samuel 5:9 The stronghold could also be interpreted as one of the wilderness hideouts in the land of Judah that David had used during his years leeing from Saul. If that is the case, it is most likely Masada. But, then the questions could be asked, Why would David lee the strong fortiications of Jerusalem? and Why would David abandon his city and his people? But, if stronghold refers to the fortress of the Jebusites, we have conirmation as to the location and identiication of the fortress, and the palace, which was located higher up on the Eastern Hill in the Ophel.
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The walls of David's palace in the northwestern part of the excavation area looking west. Underneath the Large Stone Structure are remains most likely left from the events described in Judges 1:8, which were also the subject of some of the Amarna Letters sent to Egypt asking for help.
Looking at the wall at the top of the Stepped Stone Structure from David's palace. The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem also and took it. They put the city to the sword and set it on ire. - Judges 1:8
Looking down from the top of the Stepped Stone Structure from David's palace. Notice how far down the Kidron Valley is. The House of Ahiel can also be seen near the middle of the photo. David would be able to see the roof of this house and many others from his palace. To the far right of this photo we can see a portion of the wall built by Nehemiah.
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Chapter 21
Solomons Temple Mount (970 BC)
A view of the Temple Mount on Mount Moriah as seen from the Mount of Olives. David purchased the threshing loor north of the City of David from Araunah the Jebusite for 50 shekels of silver (2 Samuel 24:24) and paid 600 shekels of gold for the entire site of Mount Moriah (1 Chronicles 21:25). These became the site of Solomons Temple. Interestingly, in recent Israeli-Palestinian conlicts most Muslims around the world claim there was never an Israelite Temple on the Temple Mount. Solomon built the Temple that would sit on a square Temple Mount platform on Mount Moriah. The Temple Mount platform was supported by retaining walls on all four sides which brought the surface area to a level 17 acres. Each of the retaining walls of the Temple Mount was 500 cubits long (or, 861 feet long using the conversion of one royal cubit to 20.67 inches). In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomons reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the Lord. . . . In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built. . . .The foundation of the temple of the Lord was laid in the fourth year, in the month of Ziv. In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was inished in all its details according to its speciications. He had spent seven years building it. 1 Kings 1, 7, 36-38
This is a diagram of the Temple Mount comparing the size of Solomons 500 cubit square platform with the two later phases of extension. The irst phase was in the days of the Hasmoneans who extended the Temple Mount to the south; it is identiied by a bend in the eastern wall were they began adding on. The second took place in 19 BC by Herod who extended it even further to the south of the Hasmonean extension but also extended it to the west and the north. In all, Herod doubled the size of the Temple Mount.
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Notice how the top of the rugged Mount Moriah, which is the northern portion of the eastern ridge, was made into a large level surface. Solomon irst built a 500 cubit square retaining wall around the high point of Mount Moriah. Then the area inside that square was illed in. The high point of bedrock that was left exposed was where the Ark of the Covenant sat and was the area that supported the Temple itself.
Galyn Wiemers points at the top of the course of ashlar stones that remain from the line of Solomons western retaining wall. On the stone closest to Galyn, the margin (the trimmed edge) and the boss (the raised center) of the face of the stone could be seen up until the 1970s. At that time the pavement where Galyn is standing was raised and mortar (which is visible in this photo to the left of the dotted line) was added to cover up the visible face, or outside, of Solomons western wall. Leen Ritmeyer has before and after photos of this alteration that he has published in his books and online.
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On the Temple Mount today a portion of the top course of cut stone that was in the line of the west wall of Solomons Temple can be seen, although Solomons Temple was destroyed in 586 BC by the Babylonians. Then beginning in 19 BC Herod the Great added additional retaining walls and ill to double the size of the Temple Mount surface which buried any of Solomons outside retaining walls that remained. Today the Muslims have a raised platform that sits on the Temple Mount platform. This platform can be seen in the diagram above with the Dome of the Rock sitting on it. The stairs in the photo and in the bottom left corner (northwest) of the Muslim platform in the diagram are not perpendicular with the platform. Notice all the other staircases are perpendicular to the Muslim platform. Why are the northwest stairs at a different angle than the platform? There is a course of stones at the base of this northwest (bottom left) staircase whose top can be seen. These stones begin the angled staircase and instead running parallel with the Muslim platform, they preserve a former line of the west wall of Solomons 500 cubit square Temple Mount surface. The details of this information was collected and connected by Leen Ritmeyer who has assembled a very insightful and solid presentation on this subject in many of his writings, books and blogs including Secrets of Jerusalems Temple Mount and The Quest: Revealing the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
The northwest stairway that is aligned with this bottom row of ashlar stones, instead of the top of the Muslim platform. The stairs are aligned with Solomons western retaining wall, which was buried by the Herodian addition to the west side of the Temple Mount.
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Chapter 22
Solomons Walls
A section of a wall built in Solomon's day around 950 BC was found south of the Temple Mount on the Ophel. The remains of the excavated wall are 19.6 feet high and 230 feet long. Found along with the portion of Solomons wall were a gatehouse that led into the royal district of the city. The gate is built in the typical style used by Solomon and his builders at Megiddo, Beersheba and Ashdod, with four symmetrical rooms, two on each side of the passageway through the gate. A 78 by 59 foot tower in the wall overlooking the Kidron Valley is located under the road that runs along the Ophel. Two earthenware jars, almost four feet tall, were also found from the time of Solomon. One jar handle was marked with the inscription: "For the King." King Solomon would have built his royal palace north of his father Davids palace further up the Ophel. This would later be called the upper house of the king by Nehemiah 3:25. The city wall would have been expanded north. This is that wall.
Walls built by Solomon north of David's Palace of Cedar (2 Samuel 5:11) and Solomon's Palace of the Forest of Lebanon (1 Kings 7:2), on the Ophel just south of the Temple Mount on Mount Moriah.
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It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace. He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long (150 feet), ifty wide (75 feet) and thirty high (45 feet), with four rows of cedar columns supporting trimmed cedar beams. It was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the columnsforty-ive beams, ifteen to a row. Its windows were placed high in sets of three, facing each other. All the doorways had rectangular frames; they were in the front part in sets of three, facing each other. He made a colonnade ifty cubits long and thirty wide. In front of it was a portico, and in front of that were pillars and an overhanging roof. All these structures, from the outside to the great courtyard and from foundation to eaves, were made of blocks of high-grade stone cut to size and trimmed with a saw on their inner and outer faces. The foundations were laid with large stones of good quality, some measuring ten cubits and some eight. Above were high-grade stones, cut to size, and cedar beams. The great courtyard was surrounded by a wall of three courses of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams, as was the inner courtyard of the temple of the Lord with its portico. - 1 Kings 7:1-12 These walls expanded the City of David to the north. Solomons building projects around his palace complex would have required the opening of the northern wall, leaving a breach. As mentioned before, David may have built his own palace just on the outside of the old north wall of the Jebusite city that had enclosed their fortress or stronghold. The book of 1 Kings also records Solomon rebuilding this northern wall which would have included him extending the wall further to the north to include his new palace and thus closing up this breach in the wall made for the many years of construction in this area of the city on the Ophel. This is the wall recently excavated and seen in the photos. Solomon had built the supporting terraces (Millo) and had illed in the gap in the wall of the city of David his father. - 1 Kings 11:27
He built the throne hall, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge, and he covered it with cedar from loor to ceiling. And the palace in which he was to live, set farther back, was similar in design. Solomon also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had married.
These are Solomon's walls built to extend the city to the north around his Palace of the Forest of Lebanon around the year 950. Solomon began to reign in 970. He spent 7 years building the Temple and 13 years building his palace. At the end of these 20 years of building (950 BC), Solomon would have closed up the gap in the north wall that was created by all of his construction work. These are the walls he built.
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Chapter 23
Solomons Quarries
The entrance to Solomons Quarries built by Suleiman in 1535 is under the north wall of the Old City, and sits on the rock escarpment of Mount Moriah. Solomons Quarries are also known as Zedekiahs Cave or Zedekiahs Grotto. The stones for Solomons temple may have been hewn and taken from this quarry around 970 BC (1 Kings 6:1): Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills, as well as thirtythree hundred foremen who supervised the project and directed the workmen. At the kings command they removed from the quarry large blocks of quality stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple. The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and the men of Gebal (Byblos) cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple. -1 Kings 5:15-18 It seems certain that King Herod returned here in 19 BC for some of the stone used to build his temple. Some of the stones in the Western Wall, for example, could easily have originated in this quarry. The quarry entrance is under the north wall of the Old City about 500 feet to the east of the Damascus Gate. It was concealed during the Ottoman Empire by Suleiman in 1540 for security reasons and was not rediscovered until 1854 when James Barclay found it and snuck in one night. Josephus mentions the Royal
The entrance to Solomon's Quarries Caverns (War 5:147) in his discussion of the north wall and gate built by Herod Agrippa I in 41BC on the same location as todays wall and Damascus Gate. This quarry became known as Zedekiahs Cave because 2 Kings 25 and Jeremiah 52 tell how Zedekiah led the city of Jerusalem in 586 even though the Babylonian army had encircled the city for 24 months and had even entered to city to pillage and burn. How did Zedekiah escape entrapment in the city of Jerusalem at that time? The Bible indicates that he and his troops used a gate at night, but legend and the system of caves under the city provide additional information. There is reported a tunnel from the royal palace of David that was connected to the cave system under the Temple Mount on Mount Moriah, which would have been connected to this quarry. In fact, many ancient accounts and even modern reports claim that this cave system extends all the way to Jericho 13 miles away. Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army led. They left the city at night through the gate between the two walls near the kings garden, though the Babylonians were surrounding the city. They led toward the Arabah (Jordan Valley), but the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, and he was captured. - Jeremiah 52:7-9 (2 Kings 25:4-6)
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Some believe that in one of these secret tunnels lies the hidden Ark of the Covenant. He (Josiah) said to the Levites, who instructed all Israel and who had been consecrated to the Lord: Put the sacred ark in the temple (beth meaning house) that Solomon son of David king of Israel built. It is not to be carried about on your shoulders. 2 Chronicles 35:3 This verse is saying either: 1. The Ark of the Covenant was moved out of the Most Holy Place located in the Temple to an undisclosed location during the evil days of Manasseh, and was being returned to the Temple in Josiahs day. 2. The Ark of the Covenant was moved here by King Josiah after he heard the prophecy from Huldah concerning the coming destruction of the Temple which was to occur after Josiahs death. If the Ark was being moved by Josiah to a place of hiding for protection, then it would have been taken to the temple or house (from the word bet or beth meaning house) that Solomon had made under the Temple. When Solomon built the Temple he would have prepared a hiding place deep inside Mount Moriah to protect the Ark in times of great rebellion or wickedness. God spoke to Solomon concerning a future time when the very Temple that Solomon had built would be destroyed and the people deported because of their sin: If you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. And though this temple is now so imposing, all who pass by will be appalled and say, Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple? - 2 Chronicles 16:19-21 Galyn stands in Solomons Quarries where stones for the Temple were taken. This quarry leads to many tunnels that run under the Old City and the Temple Mount. Solomon may have responded to this warning by preparing a place for the Ark to be placed in the days of Israels great apostasy. If this is true then the Ark was never seen by the Babylonians in 586 BC and would have remained hidden there even after the Jewish return from exile through the New Testament days up until today. This hiding place would have been accessible through Solomons Quarry, which provides access to a variety of tunnels and caves under the Temple Mount.
The stone ashlars were taken from this quarry. The straight cuts and grooves of the square blocks that were removed can still be seen. This quarry is located under Mount Moriah. The area open for visitors today is just north of the Temple Mount about 30 feet beneath the Muslim Quarter in the Old City. There is a system of tunnels and caves used by the Jewish priests of the Old and New Testament to move about under the Temple Mount. The quarry is about 330 feet wide and 650 feet deep.
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Toni walks deeper into the maze of caverns in the quarry that extends to a width of 330 feet. Chisel marks can be seen in the walls and ceilings, while chipped pieces remain in piles on the ground.
A section where the walls and ceiling show signs of the removed ashlars. Bedrock in the quarry that has been left in place. The hard white limestone, called malaky, used by Herod is visible throughout this quarry. A variety of other types of limestone can also be seen here. Chisel marks can be seen and piles of chipped rock remain. The location of removed ashlars is marked and even some inished blocks, ready to be removed, remain attached in the quarry. Galyn and Toni under Mount Moriah in Solomon's Quarries. Notice the square cuts and straight grooves left from the removal of ashlar stones used to build in the city of Jerusalem above.
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Chapter 24
The Broad Wall (721 BC, Assyrian Destruction of north Israel)

down to Judah and the city of Jerusalem for protection at this time. They settled outside the city walls to the west on the Western Hill. To protect them and their residences Hezekiah fortiied the western part of this newly expanded city around 721 BC with a wall. The uncovered remains of this wall are 23 feet wide and 213 feet long. This portion of the wall ran west from the Temple Mount toward the western corner of the southwestern hill (which would be the Citadel today). Evidence uncovered during excavation seems to indicate that Hezekiah had to destroy some homes in order to build it. Isaiah addresses this very issue in his book, in chapter 22: And you looked in that day to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest (King Solomons Palace of the Forest of Lebanon); you saw that the City of David had many breaches in its defenses; you stored up water in the Lower Pool (from Hezekiahs Tunnel). You counted the buildings in Jerusalem (new expansion to the west) and tore down houses to strengthen the wall (this is what we see here, a broad wall built through houses that had to be removed to build it). You built a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the Old Pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago. - Isaiah 22:8-11 The book of Nehemiah places the Broad Wall near the Temple Mount wall when, during the dedication of the new wall, one group of priests walked in procession on the wall, past the remains of this Broad Wall: The second choir proceeded in the opposite direction. I followed them on top of the wall, together with half the people past the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall, over the Gate of Ephraim... -Nehemiah 12:38
A section of the Broad Wall built by Hezekiah around 721 BC to the west of the Temple Mount and the City of David. This wall was built over the Central Valley and up onto the Western Hill to enclose homes in the part of the city that expanded when the Assyrians invaded Israel to the north. Many people from the northern kingdom of Israel led their country and moved into Judah and Jerusalem in order to escape the Assyrian invasion. Hezekiah protected them with this wall. The remains of the wall in this photo measure 22 feet wide and 213 feet long. The Broad Wall was built during Hezekiahs expansion of the city. Jews from the northern tribes of Israel, who had been overrun by the Assyrians in 721 BC, migrated
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Another view of the same portion of the remains of the 2,700 year old Broad Wall, which today sits below street level in the Jewish Quarter. It was uncovered in 1970 during the excavations that took place in the Old City after the Six-Day War won by Israel in 1967.
This diagram shows where the 213 foot section of the excavated Broad Wall would have been in the wall that Hezekaih built to protect the western portion of his growing city.
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Chapter 25
Hezekiahs Tunnel (701 BC, Assyrian Invasion of Judah)

Hezekiahs Tunnel was cut through bedrock in 701 BC under the City of David, curving and weaving for 1750 feet. If the same tunnel were cut in a straight line, it would be 40% shorter at only 1070 feet. This tunnel was designed and cut to bring water from the Gihon Springs in the Kidron Valley located on the east side of the Eastern Hill outside the citys walls, through the bedrock of the Eastern Hill to the west side, where Hezekiahs city of Jerusalem was expanding and protected by the new Broad Wall. After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortiied cities, thinking to conquer them for himself. When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to make war on Jerusalem, he consulted with his oficials and military staff about blocking off the water from the springs outside the city, and they helped him. A large force of men assembled, and they blocked all the springs and the stream that lowed through the land. Why should the kings of Assyria come and ind plenty of water? they said. Then he worked hard repairing all the broken sections of the wall and building towers on it. He built another wall outside that one and reinforced the supporting terraces (Millo) of the City of David. He also made large numbers of weapons and shields. . . It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Gihon spring and channeled the water down to the west side of the City of David. He succeeded in everything he undertook. - 2 Chronicles 32:1-5, 30 As for the other events of Hezekiahs reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? - 2 Kings 20:20
Toni ready to enter Hezekiah's Tunnel and the knee deep water with her lashlight.
Hezekiahs Tunnel is about 2 feet wide and 5 feet high at the entrance near the Gihon Springs, as seen in this photo. Notice the fresh water still moving through this tunnel as it has for 2,700 years.
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The tunnel ceiling is only 5 feet high at the entrance, but reaches 16 feet toward the end, near the Pool of Siloam. The water is generally knee deep at the beginning but only to mid calf throughout the rest of the tunnel. At times the water in the tunnel can be chest deep, depending on the circumstances. This tunnel was discovered by Edward Robinson in 1838 and was cleared by Montague Parkers team during the years 1909-1911. The water had continued lowing through this tunnel for 2,000 years. In fact, before its rediscovery, people thought the water in the area of the Pool of Siloam came from its own spring. It was not until later that people realized the water in the Pool of Siloam is actually water from the Gihon Springs over a third of a mile away. Water still lows naturally from the Gihon Springs today through Hezekiahs Tunnel and to the Pool of Siloam.
The pick marks of Hezekiahs workers are still visible on the rock walls and ceiling of this 1,750 foot tunnel.
Water moving along the loor through the 1/3 mile tunnel Detail of a portion of the right side of the tunnel wall.
Detail of the ceiling that begins at about 5 feet high and ends a third of a mile later at 16 feet. Notice the pick marks of Hezekiah's men that can still be seen in the bedrock under the City of David.
A nice photo of the tunnel clearly showing the pick marks, the sharp corners where the walls and ceiling meet, and the fresh moving, cool water on the loor of the tunnel which comes above the ankles to mid-calf.
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A bend in the tunnel going left.
Here the tunnels weaves to the right.
Galyn Wiemers in Hezekiah's Tunnel
Toward the end of the tunnel the ceiling reaches 16 feet high.
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Toni points to the place where an inscription etched in the rock wall by Hezekiah's men was found in 1880. It is called the Siloam Inscription and was engraved in 701 BC. It describes how two teams of workers cut the tunnel, each coming from opposite ends, and when they met the water began to low. The Siloam Inscription was written in 701 BC and discovered in 1880. It was engraved in the wall of the tunnel, but later chiseled out of the bedrock and taken to a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. Inscribed by one of Hezekiahs workmen near the western end of the tunnel close to the Pool of Siloam, it reads: [when] (the tunnel) was driven through. And this was the way in which it was cut through: While [ . . . ] (were) still [ . . . ] axes, each man toward his fellow, and while there were still three cubits to be cut through, [there was heard] the voice of a man calling to his fellows, for there was an overlap in the rock on the right [and on the left]. And when the tunnel was driven through, the quarrymen hewed (the rock), each man toward his fellow, axe against axe; and the water lowed from the spring toward the reservoir for 1200 cubits, and the height of the rock above the heads of the quarrymen was 100 cubits. - Siloam Inscription, engraved in 701 BC Stairs leading out of Hezekiahs Tunnel to an open channel, through which the water lows into the Pool of Siloam. The water in the channel lowing out of Hezekiahs Tunnel has been considered sacred and was believed to have healing powers. A church was built over the site by the empress Eudokia around 450 AD. This church, along with most other churches of the Byzantine Empire, was destroyed in 614 when the Persians invaded the Holy Land and Jerusalem. The remains of the bases of the pillars can be seen in the water of this open channel. The Bordeaux pilgrim, who saw this location in 333 AD, wrote that this pool had four porches. In the 500s, after the Church of Siloam was built by Eudokia, but before the Persians destroyed it, a pilgrim from Piacenza wrote: You descend by many steps to Siloam, and above Siloam is a hanging basilica beneath which the water of Siloam rises. Siloam has two basins constructed of marble, which are separated from each other by a screen. Men were in one and women in the other to gain a blessing. In these waters miracles take place, and lepers are cleansed. In front of the court is a large man-made pool and people are continually washing there; for at regular intervals the spring sends a great deal of water into the basins, which goes on down the valley of Gethsemane (which they also call Jehosaphat) as far as the River Jordan.
An imitation of the actual stone and the inscription that was removed and taken to a museum in Istanbul, Turkey.
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A view of the open channel at the end of Hezekiahs Tunnel. This channel lows into the Pool of Siloam. The circular, or cylinder, remains of pillars are from a Byzantine church built on this site that was called the Siloam Church.
A view of the open channel from the exit of Hezekiahs Tunnel. The Pool of Siloam is just a few feet on the other side of the gate that is seen at the end of the channel. Until 2005, the channel was identiied as the Pool of Siloam, but in 2005 the actual Pool of Siloam was uncovered accidentally by a city crew working on the public sewer system. Today this water lows on toward that pool.
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Chapter 26
Middle Gate (586 BC, Babylonian Destruction)

In the Citadel near the Jaffa Gate fragmentary remains of fortiications were found, which include a corner of a massive tower with remains at 8 meters. This appears to be part of a gate that belonged to the northern defense system of Hezekiahs wall defending the western expansion. The Babylonian generals met at this gate in June of 586 BC. Jeremiah 39:3 calls this the middle gate: Then all the oficials of the king of Babylon came and sat in the middle gate: Nergal-sar-ezer, Sam-sekim the Rab-saris, Nergalsar-ezer the Rab-mag... - Jeremiah 39:3 The area outside this gate, which suffered a great ire around that time, was littered with Babylonian and Israelite arrowheads.
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Chapter 27
Nehemiahs Wall (445 BC, Exiles Return to Rebuild Temple and City)
A portion of the wall Nehemiah built in 445 BC. A portion of this wall was rebuilt by the Hasmoneans. This is located on the east side of the City of David below the palace and next to the Jebusites Stepped Stone Structure.
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Section D: Maccabees and Hasmoneans

167- 40 BC, Revolt & Independence
Judas Maccabaeus took control of Jerusalem from the Seleucid Empire in 164 BC. He cleansed the temple and began to rebuild the city and its defenses that same year. In 160 BC Demetrius, King of the Seleucid Empire, gave Jonathan Maccabaeus a letter which promoted him, authorized him to raise an army and manufacture weapons, and stated that he was considered an ally of the Seleucid Empire. The letter also ordered the release of the Jewish hostages held by Seleucid troops in the fortress called the Acra, which sat to the south of the south wall of Solomons Temple Mount, attached to the Temple Mount wall. The Acra had been used as a stronghold against the Jews during the entire Maccabean Revolt. Jonathan went straight to Jerusalem and read the letter in the hearing of the whole people and of the men in the Citadel (Acra). They were terriied when they heard that the king had given him authority to raise an army. The men in the Citadel surrendered the hostages to Jonathan, who handed them back to their parents. Jonathan then took up residence in Jerusalem and began the rebuilding and restoration of the city. He ordered those responsible for the work to build the walls and the defenses around Mount Zion of squared stone blocks to make them stronger, and this was done. - 1 Maccabees 10:7-11 Jonathan, on his return, called a meeting of the elders of the people and decided with them to build fortresses in Judaea and to heighten the walls of Jerusalem and erect a high barrier between the Citadel and the city, to cut the former off from the city and isolate it, to prevent the occupants from buying or selling. Rebuilding the city was a cooperative effort: part of the wall over the eastern ravine had fallen down; he restored the quarter called Chaphenatha. - 1 Maccabees 12:35-37 By 141 BC Simeon Maccabaeus was able to oust the Seleucid military and its supporters who had been holed up in the Acra. The occupants of the Citadel in Jerusalem (the Acra), prevented as they were from coming out and going into the countryside to buy and sell, were in desperate need of food, and numbers of them were being carried off by starvation. They begged Simeon to make peace with them, and he granted this, though he expelled them and puriied the Citadel from its pollutions. . . . He (Simeon) fortiied the Temple hill on the Citadel side, and took up residence there with his men. - 1 Maccabees 13:49-52 Simeon and Hyrcanus I built the First Wall around the southern portion of the city on the western hill, which was called the Upper City. In 134-132 BC the Seleucids attacked Jerusalem but could not penetrate its walls. John Hyrcanus I signed a treaty with the attackers which required the demolition of parts of Jerusalems rebuilt fortiications. In return, the siege was lifted and Jerusalem was recognized as an independent kingdom by the Seleucids. Residences were then added in the north, and a Second Wall was built to protect the citizens there.
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Chapter 28
Walls and Towers
This diagram shows the location of Hasmonean wall remains that are found in the line of the old First Wall. This wall line ran from the Tower of Mariamme to the east, including the portion of the wall in the photos below. It reached the Western Wall of the Temple Mount.
We can see four things in the remains of this wall, which is located in the northern part of the Jewish Quarter: 1) It was part of the gate system that protected the western section of the city on the north wall. The entrance to the city is on the right of this photo; 2) The remains of the wall built by the Hasmoneans around 150 BC can be seen in the stones at the bottom of the photo; 3) To the left and down, the stones form a straight seam which divides the wall into two sections right and left, or west and east. The left section was the base of a tower that guarded the gate; 4) The column and its base, seen on the top of the wall, are from the Byzantine street called the Roman Cardo from 140 AD. Many of these Roman columns and much of the paved Cardo street can still be seen running through the Jewish Quarter.
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The rocks of the Hasmonean tower to the left (west) of the gate. The Hasmonean wall in the Citadel continues south under the present west wall of the city. It continues to arch to the east (left in photo) and its remains can be seen again in the Jewish Quarter today near the Broad Wall in the Cardo (as seen in the photos above). Looking from the top down on this same section of wall. Here we can see the entrance to the city through the opening/gate in the bottom right of the photo, and the Roman Cardo column built over the wall 300 years later.
A view of the west city wall of the Old City. The Hasmonean work mentioned in the caption of the Citadel photo above continues south of the Citadel, and is visible in the lower stones of the wall on the right and left sides of the tower. The tower itself was also built by the Hasmoneans and restored by Suleiman in 1535. The Hasmonean stones can be seen in this tower setting on the bedrock to the height of eleven courses of ashlars. The Hasmonean stones have margins cut around the edges and rough boss in the middle of each block. The Hasmoneans carved this same look into the bedrock (seen behind the horse at the bottom middle of the photo) to create an appearance of stone work to match the stones they used to build the tower above.
A close-up of the Hasmonean ashlar stones in the west wall of the Old City. Notice the margins cut smooth around the edges and the rough boss in the middle decorating the face of each block. The tall straight wall with the corner is a portion of Nehemiahs wall from 445 BC that the Hasmoneans re-built around 150 BC on the east side of the City of David. The Stepped Stone Structure is to the right in this photo. Some of the retaining walls from 1200 BC can also be seen in the bottom right of this photo.
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Chapter 29
Hasmonean Aqueduct
These pools of water, which are accessed through the Western Wall Tunnels, are located at the northwest corner of Herods Temple Mount. They were open reservoirs in the days of the Hasmoneans and connected to the aqueduct. The water was used as a moat on the north side of Fort Antonia in Herods day. In 135 AD, Hadrian built arched supports and vaults over these pools and used them as cisterns with a marketplace built over the tops of the arched vaults on the street level above.
The Hasmonean aqueduct cut into the bedrock in 150 BC is located north of the northwest corner of the Temple Mount. It brought water into the city from the pools located in the area. In 19 BC, Herod expanded the Temple Mount northward to include this area. At that time, the aqueduct was cut into, and the water was redirected. The walls and loor of this aqueduct have been worn smooth by water.
The arch and vaulted ceiling built by Hadrian over the Hasmonean water reservoirs.
Chapter 30
Acra
The Acra was the Seleucid stronghold built in 186 BC against the south wall of Solomons Temple Mount on the Ophel. It was used as a military post against the Jewish people who lived to the south and west, and to monitor Temple Mount activities between the years of 186-141 BC. At that time the Acra was torn down, and the Temple Mount was extended to the south to cover it up in 141 BC. Two tunnels with staircases were added during this southern extension to increase access to the Temple Mount surface. These tunnels would be extended and accessed by Herods Double and Triple Gates later.
Remains of the southernmost walls of the Acra, which still extend south of the southern Temple Mount wall between the large stairway leading up to the Double and Triple Gates.
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Chapter 31
Hasmonean Temple Mount Extension
This is a photo of the east wall of the Temple Mount. The straight seam (visible in the center of the photo, from the bottom of the wall up through the irst six courses of the stones) is at the south end of the east wall. In the right half of this photo (from the straight seam to the right edge) are stones from the Hasmonean addition to the Temple Mount wall. The second extension to the left (south) of the Hasmonean extension was done by Herod beginning in 19 BC. These southern additions covered up most of the remains of the Seleucid fortress called the Acra.
Chapter 32
Tombs in the Kidron

Since the Jews would not bury their dead inside the city walls, Jerusalem is surrounded by tombs. There are tombs to the west in the Hinnom Valley, tombs to the south where the Hinnom and Kidron Valleys meet, tombs to the north of todays Old City walls and, of course, tombs to the east in the Kidron Valley where the Messiah is to appear to raise the dead, judge mankind and enter his Temple on Mount Moriah. During the days of the Hasmoneans, Hellenistic culture inluenced the building of elaborate tombs, and this practice continued into the days of the New Testament. Eight hundred tombs from the time of Herod have been discovered within a 3 mile radius around the city. Jesus was buried in a tomb that was being cut for a Sanhedrin member outside the city walls to the west. The tombs in the Kidron Valley shown in the photos below were present in the days of Jesus, who would have walked past them many times and constantly viewed them whenever his eyes scanned the Kidron Valley or the Mount of Olives. He even spoke about them in the Gospels, calling them beautiful when he addressed the religious leaders on the Temple Mount: Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead mens bones and everything unclean. - Matthew 23:27
Three tombs are visible in this photo taken from the eastern wall of the Temple Mount. 1) To the left is a tomb with two Doric columns identiied as belonging to a family of priests by an inscription inside the tomb that mentions the "sons of Hezir; 2) In the middle is a tomb known as Zechariahs Tomb (about 30 people in the Bible are called Zechariah); 3) To the far right, south of "Zechariahs Tomb, is an uninished tomb cut in the rock.
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Here is a close up of the tomb belonging to a family of priests named Bene Hezir (or, sons of Hezir). 1 Chronicles 34:1 and 15 mention a priest named Hezir from the line of Aaron serving in the days of David. An inscription written in Hebrew found on the tomb says: This is the tomb and the monument of Alexander, Hanniah, Yoezer, Judah, Simon, Johanan, the sons of Joseph son of Oved. Joseph and Eliezer sons of Hanniah priests of the Hezir family. The inscription mentions a monument that may have been located to the left of the tomb entrance on the wall.
This tomb, known as Zechariah's Tomb, was cut during the life of Jesus.

Zechariah's Tomb is a cube cut out of the rock with Ionic pilasters and a pyramid top. "A" in the photo marks a corridor with steps that provides access to the tomb of the Hezir family to the left. "B" marks a small chamber cut under the base to serve as a tomb. To the right (south) is a tomb that was never inished. This monument (called Zechariahs Tomb) may have been built to honor those who would be buried in the uninished tomb to the south.
An uninished tomb cut in the rock to the south of "Zechariahs Tomb ".
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This tomb is just a little further north of the three previously mentioned tombs in the Kidron Valley. It was constructed during Jesus lifetime. Today it is traditionally called the Pillar of Absalom or Absaloms Monument. The Bordeaux Pilgrim referred to it as the Tomb of Hezekiah in 333 AD. It was irst associated with Absalom by Benjamin of Tudela in 1170 because of 2 Samuel 18:18. The actual person or family for whom this tomb was prepared is unknown. The architectural style includes both Egyptian and Greek inluences, which would have come from the two kingdoms that dominated Judea between 300-100 BC. The Egyptian inluence came from the Ptolemys of Egypt, and the Hellenistic style from the Seleucids, who were Greeks ruling in Syria. The lower square is cut from the bedrock. It is topped with a inely-cut circular stone with a conical top that was cut from one single stone. Directly to the left of this tomb is an eight-chambered catacomb with well-preserved carved stone. The catacomb is called the Cave of Jehoshaphat. The Pillar of Absalom may have been a monument for the burial chambers in the Cave of Jehoshaphat, cut into the cliff behind it. There are two inscriptions in this monument. A two-line inscription above the door is from around 400 AD that says: This is the tomb of Zachary, martyr, most holy priest, father of John the Baptist. A later inscription can be seen to the right of the door but only the word simon can be made out. Neither inscription is historically valuable or accurate. This tomb is further south under the village of Silwan and is known as the Tomb of Pharaoh's Daughter. This tomb was cut during, or right after, the Hasmonean age but is unidentiied. Originally this tomb, which looks like a small house, was topped with a pyramid roof cut from a single rock. Sometime after 700 AD the pyramid roof was cut up into blocks to be reused. The process caused great damage to the tomb. More damage was caused by a hermit who used this tomb as a home. There was an ancient Hebrew inscription in the upper left corner of the entrance, but now only two letters remain. The rest of the inscription was destroyed when the hermit widened the doorway.
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Section E: New Testament

Chapter 33
Herods Building Projects and Ashlar Stones

Herod the Great was king in Jerusalem under the Roman Empire from 37 to 4 BC. Herods colorful career was highlighted by the wide range of buildings he constructed in Jerusalem for a variety of reasons. Herods ambition to fulill his architectural dreams overcame not only inancial and political opposition, but he also ingeniously overcame every natural obstacle with innovative solutions. In Jerusalem, Herod built a theater, an amphitheater called the Hippodrome, the Antonia Fortress, aqueducts, and paved streets. For himself, Herod built a luxurious palace with highlydecorated towers and walls surrounding the complex, which included reception halls, royal apartments, a fortress for his personal guard, fountains, gardens and bath houses. Herod decorated his buildings by employing talented artisans who produced beautiful mosaics and frescos. He even adapted the Jewish mikveh (ritual bath) for use as a Roman-style bathhouse. Despite all these wonders, the rebuilding of the Temple and the doubling of the size of the Temple Mount were Herods most memorable architectural projects. When the Temple was inished, nothing in the Roman world could equal it. The Temple building stood higher than ifteen stories and was made out of marble and gold. The temple wall and retaining wall were constructed out of limestone blocks called ashlars. The typical building of this time during Herods extensive building projects were built with what are known as Herodian ashlars. Ashlars are large stone blocks cut smooth, with narrow margins around the edges and smooth slightly raised bosses in the center. They are easy to identify and locate in the Western Wall and in the rest of the
A Herodian ashlar located in the east side of the Temple Mount wall. The 2 to 3 inch edge that is cut about 1/2 inch deep is called the margin. The raised center of the block is called the boss. This ashlar has a smooth boss. Some ashlars had an uneven, or course, boss as did many ashlars used in the Hasmonean construction.
Detail showing the tight joints of these Herodian ashlar stones found in the tunnel along the Western Wall. The ashlars were stacked on top of each other with surfaces cut to a perfect match. No mortar, cement or adhesive was used to attach the ashlar blocks to each other. They still stand after 2,000 years, but the fact that they were not attached to each other with mortar makes it easier to understand how the Romans dismantled the Temple. When Jesus spoke of the Temple he said, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down (Matthew 24:2). These stones remain from the very base of the Temple Mount wall. Notice that each course of ashlars was set back inch to help stabilize the wall. They were not stacked evenly. Also notice the smooth-cut 2 inch margin around the edge of each ashlar.
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Temple Mount wall. Many can be seen in other walls and buildings throughout the city as well, having been reused for the last 2,000 years since the Romans toppled the temple and much of its retaining wall. Another stone design used by Herods builders is the simple plain and smooth rectangular block. This design is more dificult for the average visitor to identify.
A very large corner stone with margin and boss, located on the southwest corner of the Temple Mount. This southwest corner has some of the largest ashlar stones of the entire Temple Mount complex, measuring 39 feet 4 inches long by 7 feet 10 inches wide and 43 inches high. The large stone shown here is called the master course stone and weighs about 80 tons. All these stones form a strong corner as they alternate back and forth as headers and stretchers all the way up. The larger stones helped stabilize the smaller stones stacked below.
Four courses of original Herodian ashlars can be seen on the Western Wall of the Temple Mount.
Looking east at another cornerstone on the southwest corner. The pavement and steps are original Herodian pavement placed here in the irst century. The pavement and steps continued along this south wall of the Temple Mount. They will be seen again at the Double and Triple Gates further down this wall.
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This Cornerstone is about 33 feet long, 7 feet wide and 3 feet tall. It weighs about 50 tons.
Some of the largest ashlars are found in the southwest corner of the Temple Mount wall. These stones weigh as much as 80 tons and are about 40 feet long, 8 feet wide and 3.5 feet tall. As seen in this photo, the workers used what is called header and stretcher construction where the stones are laid west and south in an alternating pattern. Because of the great size of the stones and this style of interlocking construction, all the corners of Herods Temple have been preserved to a great height the Romans were unable to move them. This southwest corner has been preserved to the height of twelve Herodian courses of original ashlars; eight are visible here and the other four courses can be seen in photos above. Notice the edge of Robinsons Arch on the left side of the photo.
Details of the original perfectly tight horizontal and vertical joints. The workmanship of Herods construction team still maintains its impressive quality, even after setting in the middle of all the wars and activities in Jerusalem for the past 2,000 years.
Looking up at the Western Wall on the Western Wall prayer plaza.
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An ashlar in the eastern wall. Estimates by experts tell us that 200 workers could produce about eight cubic meters of cut stone each day. That means one cubic meter of stone ashlar would require about 120 hours of labor to cut and dress. Ashlars were placed in rollers like this to be moved to location. This was one of several ways the stones were moved. Stones were also pulled by teams of oxen on rollers.
The tight horizontal joints of ashlars setting on top of each other in the Temple Mount wall.
The margins, the raised bosses with the smooth face, and the tight joints in Herod's Temple Mount wall.
This is an example of a stone on rollers. The stone would be pulled by a team of oxen attached to a harness connected to the ashlar by projections of rock left uncut on both sides. On the next page are photos of projections left on the ashlar stones by Herods workers.
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Galyn points at a projection left on an ashlar. These rock projections (one on both sides of the block) would have served as handles for the workers to attach ropes in order to pull and then lift the ashlar block into place. Several ashlars on the south and east side (particularly in the southeast corner) of the Temple Mount can still be seen.
An ashlar and its uncut projection on the south side of the wall on the southeast corner. This A framed crane is an example of how the blocks were manipulated into place once they arrived at the construction site. If Herods people worked from the inside of the retaining wall they were building, they did not have to lift the blocks to the top of the Temple Mount. The workers would simply build the irst course of ashlars, add the ill, and then use the ill as a surface to pull, roll, or drag the next ashlar into place. The ropes of the crane would have connected to the ashlar using the projections left on the face and the inside of the stone. The hoist would only have to raise the ashlar slightly for it to be positioned, if it were setting on the inside on the ill at the same level as the irst course. When the second course was complete, ill would be added to bring the inside surface level with the second course, and the third course would begin from the inside.
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Toni stands by the only visible course of Herodian ashlars on the south wall of the Temple Mount. The courses of stones above it are not Herodian. The Romans dismantled the southern wall down to this course. Notice that this course of ashlars (also seen below) is twice as tall as the other ashlars we have seen (about 6 feet instead of 3 feet). The Double Gate is to the left (west) of this photo and the Triple Gate is to the right (east).
These ashlars along the southern wall of the Temple Mount between the Double Gate and the Triple Gate are twice the height of the other Herodian courses. These were a stabilizing band known as the great course.
The stone on the top is the Master Course Stone found in the Western Wall Tunnels. Notice again the 1/2 inch set back as each course is stacked on the other. We will see more later about this stone, possibly the largest stone in the Temple Mount wall. The rectangular notches were cut at a later time when this wall was used as part of an underground cistern. Plaster needed to be applied to the entire cistern in order to make it watertight. Holes were cut in the stones to keep the plaster attached, and long stones (as seen above) were placed in each hole. The plaster (also seen to the right above) was then applied to the wall. In this photo you can see the Herodian Ashlars, the rectangular holes, the long brick-shaped stone placed in the hole, and a very thick layer of plaster attached to the ashlars and strengthened by the stone connector.
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Chapter 34
Herods Temple Mount
This is a diagram of the retaining walls that created todays Temple Mount. The Ark of the Covenant was located on the exposed bedrock, which is still visible under the Dome of the Rock. The original platform for the Temple Mount that served Solomons Temple was 500 cubits by 500 cubits (861 feet x 861 feet). This is designated by the inside square walls labeled Solomons Original Platform Wall. This square was illed in, and the Temple of the Old Testament stood there. The Hasmoneans extended the Temple Mount to the south by adding about 134 feet. At the point that the Hasmoneans began to build on the eastern Temple Mount wall there is a slight bend in the wall. This bend is slight but can be seen drifting slightly towards the east. That bend begins at the 500 cubit (861 foot) mark. The Herodian addition to the Temple Mount platform, or the distance from the southeast corner to the Straight Joint, is 105.5 feet. The Straight Joint is a very visible straight line created by courses of stones butted up against the Hasmonean stones on the east Temple Mount wall by Herod the Great when he began to expand the Temple Mount in 19 BC.
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A model of Herod's Temple.
Details of a model showing the northeast corner of the Temple Mount in Jesus day.
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Details of the south wall of the Herodian Temple Mount. Notice the stairway, the Double Gate, and the Triple Gate. All of them are visible yet today. Also, the base of the stairway leading to Robinsons arch has been identiied by archaeologists.
Several details of Herod's Temple are included in this diagram: 1) staircase and gate near the straight joint (bottom right); 2) the Double and Triple Gates with their tunneled entrance and stairs leading up to the Temple Mount (the Triple Gate may be the Beautiful Gate of Acts 3; the tunnels and stairway still exist, but are inaccessible to non-Muslims); 3) Robinsons Arch, stairway and gate (still visible today); 4) Barclays Gate (top lintel visible today); 5) Wilsons Arch; 6) Warrens Gate (visible today in the Western Wall Tunnels) which is the closest the Jews can get to the Most Holy Place. Warrens Gate still has a stairway and tunnel that still lead up to the Temple Mount, but it has been blocked.
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This photo is looking at the southern wall on the right and the Western Wall on the left. The original Western Wall of Herod seen at the Western Wall Plaza today is the portion of the wall from where the white line makes contact with the Western Wall and down. These are the stones that are still visible and remain from Herods wall.
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Chapter 35
Northeast End of Eastern Temple Mount Wall
The distance from the "Offset Stone" (NE corner) to the Hasmonean bend (SE corner) is 500 cubits along the east wall. The distance from this same "Offset Stone" to the corner of the northwest stairway, that does not set parallel with the Muslim platform, is 500 cubits along what would have been the north wall.
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Chapter 36
Southeast End of Eastern Temple Mount Wall
This is the southern end of the eastern city wall. It is clear where the Hasmoneans added on to Solomon's walls since there is a slight bend in the wall at this location. It is also very clear where Herod added onto the Hasmonean walls since the blocks do not overlap but instead have a straight joint where Herods ashlar blocks butt up against the Hasmonean blocks. This portion of the east wall also serves as the east side of the Temple Mount wall. The dotted white line across the surface of the Temple Mount indicates where Solomons platform (500 cubits by 500 cubits) would have ended in the south. The dotted black line across the surface is how far the Hasmoneans extended the Temple Mount to the south. This would have covered over a portion of the Seleucid Acra fortress. Herod then extended the Temple from the dotted black line (or, the straight joint) to the present southern wall which includes the Double and Triple Gate. This is the Beautiful Gate where Peter healed the crippled beggar in Acts 3.
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There are several things to notice in this photo: 1. Galyn points at the Straight Joint that was formed when Herod added onto the southern side of the Temple Mount in 19 BC. The Hasmonean ashlar stones can be seen on the right with their margins and their course bosses. To the left of the straight joint Herodian ashlar stones can be seen. The Herodian ashlars also have a margin cut on them, but the bosses have been cut smooth. 2. The Hasmonean stones were clearly built as a corner, since the corner edge was worn off and chipped before it was enclosed into the wall in 19 BC. This is also clear from the fact that the stones were laid as headers and stretchers (i.e., the direction of the longer length of the stones alternate as they go up the corner). For example, the stone behind Galyns head is long on the outside, but the one above it runs long to the inside. 3. Notice that once the wall reaches about the ninth course the stones change and the seam is no longer visible. This is because this wall was dismantled by the Romans in 70 AD to about that level. Over the years the wall above the ninth course has been rebuilt by a variety of people with a variety of stones. 4. To the left at about the ninth row, the remains of an arch and gate from the days of Herod can be seen. This would be very similar in style to Robinsons arch on the west side of the Temple Mount, directly opposite this one.
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This is the south end of the eastern Temple Mount wall. A stairway led up to a gate that took worshippers to the surface of the Temple Mount. The projected ashlars to the left (south) of this photo indicate the position of a tower. The location of three windows in the tower can be seen in other photos.
This is a close up of the wall above and the location of an eastern arched gate at the top of a stairway. It can be thought of as the eastern walls version of Robinson's arch found on the west side.
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This photo is the view looking north from the southeast corner outside the Temple Mount wall. At the point of the arrow, the wall bends and begins to drift to the east (right) at the place where the Hasmoneans added onto the existing Temple Mount wall.
View of the southeast corner of the Temple Mount. This is where Satan tempted Jesus to jump. In 26 AD there would have been a high tower at the top of this corner.
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Chapter 37
Western Wall of the Temple Mount
The Western Wall The entire west side of the Temple Mount retaining wall can be called the western wall (1,600 feet), but there is a section of this wall that is commonly called the Western Wall. It is a 187 foot section of the wall with a large plaza area where the seven courses (or layers) of stones of the retaining wall of Herod's Temple Mount can still be seen.
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The Western Wall at the Western Wall Prayer Plaza. This is also known as the Kotel or "Wall". Kotel haMa'aravi means "Western Wall."
There are 17 courses of Herodian ashlars still buried at the Western Wall. The bottom course is 50 feet wide. Seven courses from Herods retaining wall are presently visible above ground. The 21 courses on top of those 7 Herodian courses are, from lowest to highest: 1. Four Courses added in the 600's by Umayyads. 2. Fourteen layers added in 1866 during the Ottoman period 3. Three courses added before 1967 by the Sunni Muslim cleric in charge of Jerusalem's Islamic holy places. Some interesting facts about the Western Wall: 1. The wall consists of a total of 45 courses of stone with 17 still underground and 28 above ground. 2. The overall height of the wall from the foundation to the top is 105 feet. 3. 43 feet of the wall (17 courses) remains buried below the level of the plaza. 4. 62 feet of the wall is above ground.
A typical midnight in June at the Western Wall Prayer Plaza. Wilsons Arch is to the left and the ramp for non-Muslim entrance to the Temple Mount through the Morocco Gate is to the right. The mens section is the larger portion to the left and the womens prayer section can be seen to the right next to the ramp. There is a thin ive foot wall called a mehitza separating the mens and womens sections. Before the plaza was built in front of the Western Wall, there was nothing but a 12-foot-wide alley running along this area. It ran for about 92 feet. After the war of 1967 the Jews removed buildings and expanded the plaza. Excavation work has exposed much of this west wall of the temple mount to the south. An additional section called the Small Western Wall can also be seen in the Muslim Quarter.
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Compare the section of Herodian ashlars in the small photo from today with the same stones seen in the model of the 70 AD Temple Mount. Notice how high todays pavement is and how much of the wall is still buried under rubble. of the western wall, located in the tunnels cut along the base of the wall (below the surface to the left of this photo), one stone weighs 570 tons and is 44.6 feet long and almost 11 feet wide. This stone is called the Master Course.
The men's section of the Western Wall Prayer Plaza. The Herodian stones in the Western Wall are limestone ashlars that were likely quarried from Solomon's Quarries (Zedekiah's Cave), located today under the Muslim Quarter in the Old City. The average stone weighs between two and eight tons and is about 15 feet wide. Each stone has inely chiseled borders cut around the edges a little more than 1/2 an inch deep and between 2-8 inches wide. In the northern section
Jewish men praying at the Western Wall.
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Four entrances or gates to the ancient Temple Mount can still be identiied and seen along the Western Wall: 1. Barclays Gate 2. Warrens Gate 3. Wilsons Arch 4. Robinsons Arch
Looking up the Western Wall. Notice the tourist, the orthodox Jews, a Jewish man, an Israeli soldier, and others at the wall. All the stones in this photo are Herodian ashlars placed here by Herods workers.
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Chapter 38
Western Wall Tunnels

When Herod doubled the size of the Old Testament Temple Mount he expanded to the north, to the south and to the west. The walls along the west side were set on the bedrock. The west wall of the Temple Mounts retaining wall is 1,591 feet long, making it the longest of the four Temple Mount walls. In 70 AD the Romans completely destroyed the Temple, the Temple Mount buildings, and most of the Temple Mount wall except for the lower portions that were buried in the rubble from the debris of the dismantled Temple precincts and walls above. From the Western Wall Prayer Plaza beside Wilsons Arch a tunnel can be entered that runs along the northern portion of the west wall up to its northwest corner.
A vaulted passageway entered from the Western Wall Prayer Plaza. It leads to Wilsons Arch and the tunnels along the northern portion of the Western Wall.
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The Master Course Stone: This stone is 44 feet long, 11.5 feet high, and 15 feet wide. It is estimated to weigh 570-630 tons. This stone is the master course. It was used to stabilize the smaller stones under it. It sits 20 feet above the Herodian street level and 33 feet above the bedrock. The master course extends to the left of the edge of this photo and past the right edge. The small stones setting above were used to ill in where the Romans chipped away at it in 70 AD, attempting to dismantle the whole Western Wall. They reached the level of this Master Course Stone and stopped. The rectangular holes in the stone were bored centuries later to help secure plaster to the wall in order to create an underground cistern to hold water for the homes above.
Galyn in the Western Wall tunnels by largest Herodian ashlar in the Temple Mount walls.
Another view of the Master Course Stone.
The rectangle holes in the ashlar were cut around 135 AD when Hadrian converted this area under the rubble into cisterns. The rectangle holes where cut so that wooden blocks or stones could be inserted into them to help secure the plaster to the walls. The plaster made the walls of the cisterns watertight. Some plaster can still be seen attached to part of the wall.
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A close look at the ashlar with the wooden (stone) block holding the plaster in place in the Western Wall tunnel.
Looking north down the long Western Wall Tunnel. Warrens Gate was discovered in 1867 by Charles Warren. The single stone that makes the gates threshold is original from Herods Temple. Warrens Gate led to a tunnel and a staircase that worshippers could use to ascend to the Temple Mount. The Jews continued to use this gate and tunnel as a synagogue until the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem in 1099 and banned them from entering Jerusalem. In 1187 Saladin made the area inaccessible. This is the nearest point the Jews can get to the Most Holy Place. It is also believed to be the hiding place of the Ark of the Covenant.
This is a photo of Warren's Gate that was used to access the Temple Mount. Notice the decorative engraving on the door jamb on the right side of the photo (the straight groove beginning by the number 12). Warrens Gate is about 150 feet into the Western Wall Tunnel. The paving stones are from the original Herodian street that led to this gate. On the other side of this blocked gateway is a stairway under the Temple Mount leading up to the Temple Mount surface, which the Jews used in the Middle Ages as a synagogue called The Cave. Maimonides wrote in The Book of Temple Service in the 1100s: When Solomon built the Temple, knowing that it was destined to be destroyed, he built underneath, in deep and winding tunnels, a place in which to hide the Ark. It was King Josiah who commanded the Ark be hidden in the place which Solomon had prepared. Second Chronicles 35:3 might refer to Josiah removing the Ark of the Covenant from the Temple to the hiding place Solomon had made, before the Babylonian invasion: And he said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built.
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Just a few feet north of Warrens Gate is an area with an arch that is directly west of the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant sat. This is the closest the Jews can get to the Holy of Holies today. Warrens Gate can be seen on the right edge of this photo just down the steps. The pavement in this photo is original Herodian.
The tunnel continues further and further to the north along the Western Wall.
This photo was taken from the tunnel along the Western Wall looking down into an excavated area of the wall. (The Western Wall is to the top of the photo.) This view shows how deep the courses of ashlar stones go before they reach bedrock.
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Another view looking down at the ashlars. Details of the preserved stones show the quality of workmanship that is not seen on stones that have been exposed to wars and elements for 2,000 years. Notice, the depth is not as great as before since the bedrock level rises the further north the tunnel goes.
More tunnel and more ashlars as we continue toward the north.
A Herodian street near the north end of the Western Wall tunnels. The two pillars on the left were part of a colonnaded street that ran to the west of this street. This photo was taken looking north with the Western Wall on the right. This Herodian street would have run north-to-south, and the colonnaded street would have made a T intersection with it and run toward the west (left).
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Galyn at the T intersection of the Herodian street at the north end of the Western Wall tunnels.
This quarry, only a few feet north of the Herodian road and the Hasmonean cistern, is where most of the Herodian stones for the Western Wall were taken from. This is the Hasmonean Aqueduct cut through bedrock. It goes to the pool on the northwest corner of the western wall of the Temple Mount. The bedrock walls have been worn smooth by the water.
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Toni stands on the Herodian pavement between two pillars that are part of the road that led to the left of the picture. 2,000 years ago this area was under open sky, and the road continued straight (north) and to the left (west). Other pillars going west have been excavated further down the road that would have been in line with these two pillars.
Toni stands by an uninished quarried stone. Wooden blocks would have been wedged into the groove in the middle and then soaked with water to make the stone split. The tunnels continue through the Hasmonean aqueduct to the cisterns on the northwest corner of the Temple Mount.
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North of the Western Wall and Temple Mount
In 1996 Benjamin Netanyahu allowed the Jews to open the northern end of this Western Wall tunnel. When the tunnel was blasted through, it opened onto the Ummariya Madrasah, which is the street adjacent to the Via Dolorosa. This action resulted in riots by the Muslims who believed that the Jews were tunneling under the Temple Mount and that they were attempting to lay claim to the area of territory in the Muslim Quarter (which is, either way, in Israel and under Israeli control). Over the next two weeks 14 people were killed in the riots protesting the opening of the north end of the Western Wall Tunnel. Today a wall has been built across the north end of the tunnel. The Tunnel must now be accessed from the north side in the Convent of the Sisters of Zion. The Struthion Pool lies below this covenant.
Walking through a water system that Herod redirected to the Temple Mount.
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The Struthion Pool was an open pool that served as a water reservoir for the city and as a moat for Fort Antonia. It collected rain water and also received water from the Hasmonean aqueduct.
The vaulted ceiling installed by Hadrian in 135 to cover the open pools of water. The holes in the roof where used by people above to access the water by lowering buckets on ropes. Hadrian built a market place at street level above these vaulted ceilings.
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Chapter 39
Mikvah, the Ritual Baths

The word mikvah (also, mikveh, mikva, miqve) means collection and refers to a collection of water that was used by the Jews for ceremonial washing. They are ritual baths. The Jews would purify themselves before several activities or after certain events that made them unclean. Conversion to Judaism requires submersion into a mikvah. The area around the Temple Mount, especially to the south, is illed with mikvah. Many of them were most likely used on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2) to baptize the converted Jews in Jesus name. It signiied a major change in their understanding of who Jesus was and was a sign of their new faith and allegiance. A mikvah had to have a source of running water, such as a spring, or fresh water, such as rain. A mikvah had to be large enough to allow an average sized person to immerse his whole body. Stairs would be used to descend into and ascend from the mikvah. Often there was a wall separating the clean side from the unclean side.
A irst century mikvah used during the days of Jesus and the book of Acts, located south of the Temple Mount at the base of the Double Gate stairs. This could easily have been one of the many mikvah used to baptize some of the 3,000 new Jewish believers on the Day of Pentecost as described in Acts 2.
Galyn and Toni in the entrance of a mikvah on the outside of the southern wall of the Old City.
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Chapter 40
Large Mikvah
In 2009 a large 2,000-year-old mikvah was uncovered along the Western Wall Tunnel only 65 feet from the Western Wall itself. This was one of the largest mikvah ever discovered. It has 11 steps and was used by the multitude of Jews entering the Temple Mount near Wilsons Arch or Warrens Gate.
Joesphus wrote that the Jewish governments administrative center was located in this area at the foot of the Temple on the west side. The Talmud says that the Sanhedrin would meet in this building. This highly decorated mikvah has the architectural and artistic style of some of Herods most magniicent works with inely dressed ashlar stones and the highest quality craftsmanship in decorating. This could be part of the Sanhedrins governmental building as well as their ritual bath. Looking down on the large mikvah discovered in 2009 just 65 feet west of the Temple Mounts Western Wall.
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Chapter 41
Wilsons Arch
Wilsons Arch on the Western Wall as it would have looked in the days of the New Testament. Wilsons Arch is the modern name for an arch that spanned 42 feet and supported a road that ran 75 feet above the Herodian pavement and valley below. The road at the top of Wilsons Arch accessed a gate which was level with the surface of the Temple Mount in Jesus day. Although the arch stood high above the Herodian pavement, only the top is still visible today, where it is still supported against the Western Wall. Josephus mentions the bridge that this arch was a part of and says it connected the Temple Mount to the Upper City on the Western Hill on the other side of the Central (Tyropoeon) Valley. This bridge also carried water through an aqueduct to the Temple Mount from Solomons Pools. The arch was identiied in 1864 by Charles Wilson.
Wilson's Arch can be seen in the corner of the Western Wall (top center of the photo). Today the height from the bottom of the arch to the pavement below is only 20 feet. In 30 AD the height was 75 feet.
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Stones from inside and under Wilsons arch. The original pavement would have been about 50 feet lower than it is now.
Prayer under Wilson's Arch beside a wooden cabinet which contains large scrolls of the Torah.
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Chapter 42
Warrens Gate
Warrens Gate was one of four entrances into the Temple Mount from the west side. It is located about 150 feet into the Western Wall Tunnel. On the other side of this now blocked gate is a tunnel and a staircase that lead up to the surface of the Temple Mount. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire (Christians), the Muslim conquerors allowed the Jews to pray in this tunnel, and the Jews created a synagogue here at the base of the stairs below the Temple Mount. But, in 1099 the Crusaders (Christians) destroyed the synagogue, which the Jews had called the Cave, and turned it into a cistern. This was the closest gate to the Holy of Holies.
Toni stands at a point in the Western Wall tunnel that is the closest location to the Holy of Holies available to the Jews. About 15 steps behind her and down a light of stairs is Warren's Gate. In July of 1981 a riot erupted here between the Jewish archaeologists excavating this tunnel and some Muslims who came down from the Temple Mount through the stairway leading to Warrens Gate. A few Jews had begun removing stones that blocked Warrens Gate and the noise alerted the Muslims on the Temple Mount above. The gate post, or jamb, on the lower right dates from the time of Herod's Temple. The gate has since been blocked shut. This northernmost gate of Herods Temple is known today as Warrens Gate, discovered by Charles Warren, the British archaeologist who worked in Jerusalem under an association called the Palestine Exploration Fund in the 1800s.
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Chapter 43
Barclays Gate
This gate was irst recognized by James Barclay, an American consul in 1855. It is referred to as the Kiponus Gate in the Mishna. The gate used to enter the Temple Mount today is above the lintel of Barclays Gate and is called the Moroccans Gate, the Gate of the Moors, or the Mugrabi Gate.
This large stone (which looks like a square) is itself about 21 feet long, 6.5 feet wide, and weighs 50 tons. This stone was the massive lintel (or, top stone) that spanned a gate into the temple of Herod's day. The gate entrance was almost 27 feet high. The building to the right was attached to the Western Wall and was originally part of a ramp that led to the Mugrabi Gate, which was above Barclay's Gate. The lintel can be seen from the inside of the building.
The stairway is still on the other side of the wall and still leads to the Temple Mount. This staircase is accessed from the Temple Mount just north of the Mugrabi Gate. The Muslims descend these stairs today to a room they call El-Buraq Mosque.
Below the lintel, before the building was added, the gate was closed in with smaller stones
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Chapter 44
Robinsons Arch
Robinson's Arch is on the south end of the western wall. It supported a staircase that led up to a gate into the Temple Mount. The arch is named after Edward Robinson, the American scholar who irst identiied it in 1838. What remains of this arch is about 39 feet north of the southwest corner of the Temple Mount wall, and it measures about 50 feet long. In 1867 Charles Warren located the large pier built on the bedrock 41 feet directly west of the arch, which is also 50 feet long. The southwest corner of the Temple Mount. The remains of where Robinson's Arch made contact with the Western Wall can still be seen. The entrance gate would have been directly above this. Details of a model showing the southwest corner of the Temple Mount. The staircase leading up to Robinson's Arch can be seen near the middle. The arches under the stairs were shops. These shops and others along the Western Wall directly under Robinson's Arch and gate have been located and excavated.
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is the point at which the arch begins to rise from its support). The groove seen along the wall running below Robinson's Arch on both the west and south walls was cut into the Herodian ashlars by the Muslim Umayyad Dynasty between the years 651 and 750. The Muslims used these grooves to hold pipes that supplied water to the buildings constructed to the south of the Temple Mount. The walls of one of those buildings can be seen in the right of this photo directly behind the Temple Mounts southern wall. A close look at the walls of this building reveal that it was built with reused Herodian ashlar stones that were left from the Roman destruction of the Temple site in 70 AD. Reused Herodian ashlars are very common throughout the city. Benjamin Mazar excavated this area after 1967. Before that time the ground level was up to Robinson's Arch so that a person could walk up and touch it. Below, in the excavation you can see (from left to right): 1. The square openings of shops that were under Robinsons Arch 2. The remains of the piers that supported the arch and the staircase 3. Steps at the base of the Temple Mount corner that led up to a pavement which ran over the top of the shops that sat under Robinsons Arch 4. Located just to the left of those steps are the remains of walls (3 or 4) from the shops that were perpendicular to and butted up against the west wall (facing the camera), 5. The pavement and steps that ran along the south (right) side of the Temple Mount A view looking up at Robinson's Arch from the original Herodian pavement below. The blocks and windows above the arch are not original. The windows open into the Islamic Museum that can be visited on the Temple Mount. The Muslims call the Temple Mount Hara mesh-Sherif, The Noble Sanctuary. This arch, the spring, and all the stones in the wall below the arch are original from the Days of Herod's construction, which began in 19 BC. The arch, the staircase, and the gate were in use in the days of Jesus when he spent time on the Temple Mount.
Robinson's Arch - all that remains of this Herodian structure is the spring of the arch which was embedded into the wall to support the arch and pavement. The gate was designed to provide access to the Temple Mount, directly above this spring (A spring of an arch
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A photo taken from on top of rubble that has not yet been removed looking south at Robinson's Arch. Until 1967 the rubble under Robinsons Arch brought the ground level up to the arch. Older photos of Robinsons Arch show people touching and sitting on the Arch from ground level.
A Hebrew inscription was engraved and is visible in one of the ashlar blocks under Robinson's Arch.
The inscription may have been engraved around 900 AD to commemorate the Jewish graves found in the rubble under the arch from that same time period. The inscription comes from Isaiah 66:14. This inscription was discovered by Benjamin Mazar during his excavations that began after the Six-Day war in 1967. The inscription reads: You shall see and your heart shall rejoice. Their bones shall lourish like grass. It appears to be a paraphrase of Isaiah 66:14: When you see this, your heart will rejoice and you will lourish like grass. Mazar believes this inscription was placed here on the west wall of the Temple Mount by the Jews who were allowed back into the city to rebuild the Temple in Emperor Julians day in 363. Others recognize that about four feet below the inscription 30-40 burials had taken place around 900 AD.
This close-up shows the Herodian ashlar stones that surround the arch.
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Chapter 45
Western Wall Street

A Herodian street from the days of Jesus and the New Testament runs along the west side of the Western Wall. A portion of this street has been found at the northwest edge of the Western Wall inside the tunnels (as seen in a photo earlier in the book). This same street ran from the northwest corner all along the Western Wall of the Temple Mount to the southwest corner (see photo below). It then continued all the way down through the City of David to the Pool of Siloam, where a large portion of it has been excavated. The street was originally built by Herod the Great and later repaved by Herod Agrippa I around 40-44 AD. Under the street is a gutter that is large enough to walk in, which collected rain water and ran it south, out of the city. The pavement is supported by three rows of vaults which created vaulted rooms built on the bedrock. During the Roman destruction of the Temple and Temple Mount huge chunks of rock and ashlar stones were pushed over the edge onto this pavement, where the force of the falling objects crushed portions of the pavement down into the gutter beneath the
Looking south down the Herodian street along the Western Wall at the southwest end of the Temple Mount. Notice the lat paving stones used in the street. Notice also the straight stone curb running along the right side. Toni sits toward the end of the street on the curb in front of shops that were under the staircase of Robinsons Arch. Stones from the Jewish Temple and broken Herodian ashlars lay at the base of the Temple Mount wall right were they landed in 70 AD when the Tenth Roman Legion destroyed the temple and its courts.
This photo, looking north with the Western Wall on the right, shows the pavement crushed by falling blocks of stone from the Roman destruction in 70 AD. In the bottom right quadrant of the photo the remains of shops built against the Western Wall can be seen. Shops lined both sides of this street and may have been controlled by the High Priest Annas.
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streets. During the excavation process much of this rubble was removed, but some was left to help communicate the magnitude of the devastation caused by the Roman Legions. The stones that were left in place can still be seen lying on the street in the piles where they landed almost 2,000 years ago. A 246 foot portion of the street was excavated below Robinsons Arch. The street there is 28 feet wide and is bordered with raised curbstones.
Fallen stones from the Temple and Temple Mount lay in a heap at the base of the Western Wall. At the back left of the photo is an area that has not been excavated. Behind that is the Western Wall Plaza.
Two interesting pieces of the Temple complex are seen here. 1) In the front right is a stone that fell from the Temple Mount above. It is a piece of the railing from the course of stones at the top of the southwest corner, and is called the Trumpeting Stone. The priestly trumpeter would have stood on this stone to sound the trumpet signaling the beginning and end of Sabbath days and festivals. The sharp corner that has been cut out of this block is where the priest would have stood, and the beveled edge served as a guard railing. In the top left portion of the guard rail is a Hebrew inscription. It is likely that James, the pastor of the Jerusalem church who wrote the book of James, was forced to stand on this stone in 63 AD to proclaim that Jesus was not the Messiah. Instead, James confessed Jesus by announcing to the crowd that Jesus was the Christ, that he sits at Gods right hand, and that he will return in the clouds from heaven. The scribes and Pharisees responded by pushing James, the brother of the Lord, over this railing to his death. 2) Behind the Trumpeting Stone on the pavement is a nicely carved block that was a decorative piece from the Temple complex. Also notice the four shops on the curb of the pavement on the left side, at the back of the photo. The damaged pavement of the street is seen as we look south. To the right are the shops that were under Robinsons Arch, and a decorated piece of stone that hurled from the Temple complex above (top right). To the left we see the curb of the street and the remains of the walls of the shops near the southwest corner. To the south are a couple of Muslim buildings constructed during the Umayyad Dynasty from 661 to 750 AD. To the back left is the Umayyad palace. To the back right is the Umayyad hostel. Both of these buildings were made of Herodian ashlar found in the Roman rubble.
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A close up of the Trumpeting Stone that was found directly under the southwest corner. The Hebrew inscription can be clearly seen on the railing. It is read right to left, and says: For the place of trumpeting to . . . It appears the rest of the inscription was broken off when Charles Warren dug a tunnel through the rubble in the 1800s, and went right through this stone. The rest of the inscription may have said For the place of trumpeting to the temple, or, to herald the Sabbath. Josephus describes this place on the Temple Mount wall when he writes: Above the roof of the priests chambers, . . . it was the custom for one of the priests to stand and to give notice, by sound of trumpet, in the afternoon of the approach, and on the following evening of the close, of every seventh day, announcing to the people the respective hours for ceasing work and for resuming their labors. - Josephus IV:9:12
The Hebrew inscription on the Trumpeting Stone from the Temple that Herod built.
Looking north over the Trumpeting Stone (in the forefront of the photo) at the pavement along the Western Wall. The curbs on both sides of the Herodian pavement are visible, as well as four shops on the west side (left) of the street. The ruins of shops on the east side (right) that sat against the Western Wall can also be seen. The full width of the street is recognizable even though the right side is crushed and rubble remains on the street in the background.
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This view is looking at the back of the shops (see the lintel of the shop door, middle left) and at the southwest corner of the Temple Mount. In the middle of the photo is a bakery where circular loor ovens were found. This photo shows the southwest corner of the Temple Mount wall. The Herodian ashlar cornerstones are clearly visible. To the right (east) are the pavement and steps that lead along the southern wall. To the left (going north) are the stair steps that led up to the top of the shops that sat along the Western Wall.
This is the front view of the same bakery. Notice the three blocks of the curb and the pavement in front of the bakery, in the bottom right corner of the photo.
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This photo was taken from the southwest corner of the Temple Mount looking west toward the Western Hill (Western Ridge) where the Upper City was located in the irst century. The remains of the stairs and pavement that led people back and forth from the Temple to the Upper City still remain. The base, or pier, of Robinsons Arch is on the right. A covered channel runs north-south along the Western Wall. The southwest corner of the Temple Mount is in the top right-hand corner of the photo.
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Chapter 46
Western Wall Shops
Shops along the Herodian Street can be seen to the right of the curb. The lintels (top stone over the doorways) of these shops provided support for Robinsons Arch, which in turn supported the staircase that led to the southwestern gate of the Temple Mount.
A close up of the front of the shops sitting along the Herodian road. Notice the nicely cut ashlar stones that formed the door jambs and supported the lintels above the doorways. This street was lined with shops on both sides.
Detail of the Herodian ashlars in the door jambs and lintels of the shops.
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A view of the shops from the back side (the Upper City side), with Robinsons Arch in the background on the Western Wall.
A general idea of how the stairway would have been laid out.
The archaeological site behind the shops, looking northwest.
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Josephus Account of Jerusalems Destruction in 70 AD: While the holy house was on ire, every thing was plundered that came to hand, and ten thousand of those that were caught were slain...children, and old men, and profane persons, and priests were all slain in the same manner; so that this war went round all sorts of men, and brought them to destruction, and as well those that made supplication for their lives, as those that defended themselves by ighting. The lame was also carried a long way, and made an echo, together with the groans of those that were slain. ...Nor can one imagine any thing either greater or more terrible than this noise; for there was at once a shout of the Roman legions, who were marching all together, and a sad clamor of the seditious, who were now surrounded with ire and sword....Yet was the misery itself more terrible than this disorder; for one would have thought that the hill itself, on which the temple stood, was seething hot, as full of ire on every part of it, that the blood was larger in quantity than the ire, and those that were slain more in number than those that slew them; for the ground did no where appear visible, for the dead bodies that lay on it; but the soldiers went over heaps of those bodies, as they ran upon such as led from them....As for the priests, some of them plucked up from the holy house the spikes (18) that were upon it, with their bases, which were made of lead, and shot them at the Romans instead of darts. But then as they gained nothing by so doing, ...Now the Romans, judging that it was in vain to spare what was round about the holy house, burnt all those places, as also the remains of the cloisters and the gates, two excepted; the one on the east side, and the other on the south; both which, however, they burnt afterward. They also burnt down the treasury chambers, in which was an immense quantity of money, and an immense
These are the remains of three or four of the shops on the east side of the pavement that were built perpendicular to the Western Wall. Crushed pavement and curbs are seen in the bottom right quadrant of the photo.
A view from above looking at the southwest corner of the Western Wall. Notice the shops along the Western Wall and the stairs that begin at the base of the southwest corner and go over the top of the shops.
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A close up of the stairs that go to the top of the shops on the east side of the road. The shops on the west side can be seen to the left of the road. number of garments, and other precious goods ...before Caesar had determined any thing about these people, or given the commanders any orders relating to them, the soldiers were in such a rage, that they set that cloister on ire; by which means it came to pass that some of these were destroyed by throwing themselves down headlong, and some were burnt in the cloisters themselves. Nor did any one of them escape with his life. A false prophet was the occasion of these people's destruction, who had made a public proclamation in the city that very day, that God commanded them to get upon the temple, and that there they should receive miraculous signs of their deliverance. Now there was then a great number of false prophets suborned by the tyrants to impose on the people, who denounced this to them, that they should wait for deliverance from God; and this was in order to keep them from deserting, and that they might be buoyed up above fear and care by such hopes... Thus were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers, and such as belied God himself. - Wars of the Jews, book VI, chapter V
Now as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder, because there remained none to be the objects of their fury, (for they would not have spared any, had there remained any other work to be done,) Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and temple, but should leave as many of the towers standing as were of the greatest eminency; that is, Phasaelus, and Hippicus, and Mariamne; and so much of the wall as enclosed the city on the west side. This wall was spared, in order to afford a camp for such as were to lie in garrison, as were the towers also spared, in order to demonstrate to posterity what kind of city it was, and how well fortiied, which the Roman valor had subdued; but for all the rest of the wall, it was so thoroughly laid even with the ground by those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it had ever been inhabited. This was the end which Jerusalem came to by the madness of those that were for innovations; a city otherwise of great magniicence, and of mighty fame among all mankind. But Caesar resolved to leave there, as a guard, the tenth legion, with certain troops of horsemen, and companies of footmen. Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book VII, chapter I.
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Chapter 47
Southern Wall: Double Gate, Triple Gate, Stair Steps, Single Gate, Burnt Shops
This is a view of the eastern two-thirds of the southern wall. Notice the how quickly the ground level drops off as the wall continues toward the east (right). The dome of the Al Aqsa Mosque can be seen where Solomons Porch, or the Royal Stoa, of the Jews once stood on the south side of the Temple Mount. A 22-foot wide street also ran along the southern wall of the Temple. About 37 feet of this street can still be seen at the southwest corner, where it begins to ascend rapidly through a series of stairs until it reaches the Double Gate. Although we know the route, the street is not visible after the initial 37-foot section until it reaches the Double Gate. At the Double Gate it is again visible down to the Triple Gate. Stairs run up to this street from the south, coming up the Ophel from the south. The remains of these stairs are also still visible. In fact, they are still useful to visitors. As the street continues along the southern wall toward the east a series of vaults, similar to the vaults under the street along the Western Wall, were built to support it. These vaults, or arches, supported the street along the southern wall and were also used as shops.
Since 1967 when the Israelis took control of eastern Jerusalem, extensive excavation has been done in this area called the Ophel south of the Temple Mount.
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A view of the southern wall and the excavation done in the Ophel area. Notice the location of these things: 1) paved street, 2) the Double Gate, 3) the Triple Gate, 4) marks from the Burnt Herodian Arches, and 5) the two large sets of stairs (not labeled) leading up to the Double and Triple Gates. It may also be of interest to recognize where the remains of the Akra, the old Seleucid fortress, is. The worn steps cut into the bedrock of Mount Moriah as it ascends to the Temple Mount in front of the Double Gate in the Ophel.
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This light of stairs is 210 feet wide. The stairs are a combination of smooth stone slabs and carved bedrock. The stairs alternate between a 35 inch run (the length of the step) and a 12 inch run, except for the irst and last three steps, which are all 12 inches. The alternating step width caused the Jewish worshippers to proceed toward the Temple Mount with a steady, unrushed pace. Jewish writings record Gamaliel (the Apostle Pauls Jewish instructor and the man who suggested the release of the Apostles in Acts 5:34) sitting on these steps with the elders: It happened once with Rabban Gamaliel and the elders, that they were sitting on the stairs in the Temple Mount. -Tosefta Sanhedrin 2:6 In this photo, Galyn leans against a tower of the Knights Templar that was built right up against the Double Gate by the Crusaders to protect the city from Muslim invaders. A lintel from the Umayyad Period (661-750 AD) can be seen over the Double Gate. Part of the lintel was covered up by the Knights Templar when they built their fortiication in about 1129 AD.
A view looking east-southeast down the steps over the Kidron Valley toward the southern summit of the Mount of Olives. At the foot of these stairs are numerous mikvah (ritual baths) used by the Jews for puriication. These mikvah were likely used by the Apostles on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 for baptizing the 3,000 new Jewish believers in the name of Jesus. On that day, these steps would have been crowded - irst, because it was the Jewish feast of Pentecost, and second, because of the events recorded in Acts chapter 2.
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A view of the eastern half of the Double Gate. This gate led into a magniicently decorated tunnel under the Temple Mount's Royal Stoa (Solomons Porch) which led to a set of stairs that brought the worshipper up to the surface of the Temple Mount. The distance from the street level in front of the Double Gate up the stairs to the Temple Mount surface is about 46 feet.
Above the Umayyad Arch (built in the 600's AD by the Muslims) are four trapezoidal stones which form the arch of Herod's New Testament Temple Mount entrance. Below the trapezoidal stones is a large horizontal stone with a wide margin and boss carved into it. This is the lintel for the Herodian Double Gate. To the left behind the Crusader wall, the rest of the gate can be seen.
This is a photo from the Temple Mount where the worshipper would emerge after entering the Double Gate. Today this entrance is only accessible to Muslims (although, I have to admit that I was tempted run down the stairs into the tunnel to see and photograph the decorations in the rock walls and domed ceilings). The building behind this is the Al Aqsa Mosque which is considered the third most holy site in the world for Muslims after Mecca and Medina.
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Notice the four trapezoidal stones forming the arch of the Double Gate from the days of Herod, and the large horizontal lintel directly below them with the wide margin and boss. The decorative arch attached to the face of the wall is from the late 600s AD. Also notice the square stone that sets immediately to the right (east) of the fourth trapezoidal stone, even with the top of the arch. This stone is etched with a Roman inscription and was placed in the wall upside down. It is the base of a Roman statue that sat on the Temple Mount in the days of Hadrian after the second Jewish revolt was quenched in 135 AD.
The upside down inscription is from the Roman statue of Emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161 AD) that the Bordeaux Pilgrim recorded seeing when he was on the Temple Mount in 333 AD. The statue was destroyed by the Byzantine Christians after 333 AD, the Jews in 614 AD or the Muslims in 638 AD. This reused block is the only part found so far of the two statues (one of Hadrian, and this one of Antoninus Pius.)
Shown rightside-up, the inscription reads: To Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius The father of the fatherland, pontifex, augur Decreed by the Decurions
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Toni stands on the street pavement along the southern Temple Mount wall between the Double and Triple Gates at the top of the large staircases. The large six-foot-tall ashlars behind her are original Herodian stones remaining from the Temple Mount that was destroyed in 70 AD. This course of ashlars is double the height of the average ashlar because they served as the master course. Notice that at the street level, the margin and bosses of a lower course of ashlars can be seen directly behind Tonis feet. This photo is looking west toward the Double Gate and the wall of the tower of the Knights Templar. The Triple Gate was directly behind me when the photo was taken. The Double Gate and Triple Gate are 230 feet apart. The course of six-foot ashlars from the New Testament days can be seen in this course which is just left of the Triple Gate and continues to the Double Gate. The stones above this course are the work of Romans, Jews or Muslims (no one knows for sure) who rebuilt the southern wall of the Temple Mount.
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A Hebrew inscription of the name Berachia Bar Gedalya Bayrav in one of the large six-foot ashlars located between the Double and Triple Gates can be seen. All we know for sure is the name that is inscribed. The details of who, when and why are unknown.
The Triple Gate can be seen at the top of these rebuilt stairs. The Triple Gate is 230 feet east of the Double Gate and is 51 feet wide. Each of the three gates is 13 feet wide with two 6 foot piers separating them.
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The Triple Gate led visitors under the Temple Mount through a decorated tunnel beneath the Royal Stoa on the south end of Solomons Colonnade, then to a stairway which took worshippers up to the outer courtyard of the Temple Mount. This Triple Gate is likely the Beautiful Gate of Acts 3:2: One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer at three in the afternoon. Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money . . . Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful . . . While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomons Colonnade. - Acts 3:1-11
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A close up of the stone carvings from the west door jamb of the Triple Gate. This is all that remains of Herod's original gate, called the Beautiful Gate, that served as an entrance to the tunnel and staircase that still exist behind this blocked gate. This ashlar is 48 inches long. Eighteen inches are decorated with a classical gate proile, and the remaining 30 inches are carved in a style typical of Herodian ashlars. The Triple Gate was rebuilt during the Umayyad Dynasty (661-750). The Crusaders blocked it shut to protect themselves from the Muslims around 1100.
To the left (west) side of the irst gate of the three, decorative rock carvings in the door jamb can still be seen on the ashlar stone that was part of the Triple Gate or Beautiful Gate. The highly decorated stones may be the reason it was called The Beautiful Gate. Jesus and the apostles would have surely walked through this gate that led up to the outer courts and Solomons Porch, where the early church in Jerusalem met daily. There is a Hebrew inscription on the carved molding of the jamb of the Triple Gate. The inscription, possibly a memorial, consists of the names of two Jews who had died. The inscription is dated at around 750 AD when the Muslim Abassid dynasty ruled, and Jews could only worship at the gates of the Temple Mount.
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Further to the east on the south wall is the Single Gate. It was cut by the Knights Templar and is not original to the Temple Mount. The Crusaders used this gate to access the caverns below the Temple Mount, where they kept their horses. The caverns are called Solomons Stables. The gate was blocked shut by Saladin in 1187 when the Muslims returned. Below this arch are the remains of other arches that supported the Herodian street that ran the full length of the southern wall. The vaulted rooms created by this arched support system were used as shops. The intense heat from the Roman ire in 70 AD seared the wall below the Single Gate, and created burnt impressions of the arches. The impressions burnt onto the Herodian ashlars still clearly show where these shops and their vaulted walls stood.
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The intense heat of the Roman destruction created burnt impressions on the southern wall of the Temple Mount, outlining the arches of the vaulted rooms that supported the paved street as it descended. Shops were located in these vaulted rooms under the street.
A close up of a burnt impression.
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Chapter 48
Archaeology on the Ophel (Jerusalem Archaeological Park)
A channel cut in the rock (dotted white line in photo above) took water from a large cistern on the Temple Mount to the ritual baths below the Double and Triple Gates. It runs under the Double Gate stairs and then turns east under the stairs of the Triple Gate.
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Overlooking the Ophel where heavy excavation south of the Temple Mount began in 1967 and continues today. The Double Gate and the large stairs are in the middle of the photo and to the right side in the background. This photo is looking east toward the Kidron Valley and the Mount of Olives along the southern wall of the Temple Mount. The walls of a large Herodian building were found east of the Triple Gate. The Mishnah mentions a courthouse that used to sit at the entrance to the Temple Mount. Fragments of a inely carved stone inscription were found in this location that says the elders. This is assumed to refer to the elders of the Sanhedrin who managed and met in this courthouse. Two other courthouses were also mentioned in the Mishnah: one on the Temple Mount, and one in the Hall of Hewn Stones.
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Looking south over the Archaeological Park and excavation south of the Temple Mount.
Mikvah by the stairs south of the Temple. Looking south from near the Triple Gate.
Excavated remains south of the Temple Mount looking east/southeast.
A portion of the remains of the Seleucid Akra, which overlooked the Temple Mount during the days of the Macabbean Revolt. The Macabbees tore it down and built a southern extension of the Temple Mount over the northern portion of this structure. The Triple Gate stairs can be seen in the top left of this photo.
Excavated remains south of the Temple Mount looking southwest from near the Triple Gate.
Excavation south of the Temple Mount on the Ophel.
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Three different walls can be distinguished as we look up the Ophel toward the southern Temple Mount wall in the back.
Excavation south of the Temple Mount on the Ophel.
Herodian ashlars setting south of the Temple Mount.
Pavement (or loor) among the ruins.
Archaeological remains setting to the south of the southern Temple Mount wall.
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The columned courtyard of a public building in the Muslim palace complex, from around 700 AD. These pillars were taken from Byzantine Christian churches that had been destroyed.
A close up of some fallen pillars. Looking down into an excavated room and doorway. Notice the original stonework on the loor.
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Chapter 49
The Siloam Road

The paved Herodian street at the northwest corner of the Temple Mount continues south along the Western Wall until it reaches the Pool of Siloam on the south end of the City of David. Herodian pavement stones from the irst century. This style of pavement stone is seen in many places where streets from the days of the New Testament have been excavated. The Herodian street that ran from the north of the city along the Western Wall, under Robinsons arch, and down the eastern hill through the City of David until it reached the Pool of Siloam. The Pool of Siloam is circled.
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This pavement along the edge of the Pool of Siloam leads to the street.
A portion of the width of the street can be seen here. Only the left side (top of photo) was excavated and accessible when this photo was taken. Again, notice the steps beginning to ascend through the City of David on the eastern ridge of the city as we approach the Ophel and Mount Moriah. This street and these stairs would have been used by the blind man as he approached the Pool of Siloam to wash the mud from his eyes: Having said this, Jesus spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put in on the mans eyes. Go, Jesus told him, wash in the Pool of Siloam. So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. - John 9:6-7
Recent excavation of this area has uncovered a stepped stone street that ascends from the Pool of Siloam to the Temple Mount. Notice in the back of this photo that the front of three steps can be seen. The style of the stairs is similar to the large staircases in front of the Double and Triple Gates, in that the steps alternate between narrow and wide runs. In this photo the irst step is a narrow run while the second step is wider. This created a slow, steady procession as people ascended from the Pool of Siloam to the Temple Mount. In this photo the excavation turns toward the left and then follows a section of this wide street up through the City of David.
A good view of the alternating steps and the pavement stones. To the left is dirt that has not been excavated yet. To the right is a wall that blocks access to the rest of the street which is being excavated now.
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Galyn ready to ascend the recently excavated stepped stone street that leads from the Pool of Siloam up to the Temple Mount. The continuation of the street can be seen in the opening further up on the left side of the street. The Temple Mount is 1600 feet (a little more than a quarter mile) up these stairs to the north, but the excavation does not continue all the way to the Temple Mount.
Looking down the stepped stone street that leads to the Pool of Siloam. Only 6 feet of the 25-foot-wide street has been excavated so far.
The stepped stone street is much wider than this, but this narrow portion was excavated and accessible in June of 2010.
This is a photo of the gutter that runs under the stepped stone street. This gutter system would collect runoff rain water from the city and drain it toward the Pool of Siloam. Notice that it has been completely excavated, since both sides reveal a wall made of blocks that support the stone paved street above.
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A close up of the left (west) stone wall of the gutter under the street.
In 70 AD the Jews used this gutter system to escape from the city of Jerusalem by leeing south under the walls. When the Romans inally entered the city they found these tunnels crowded with Jews who they then slaughtered.
The east wall of the gutter and a view of the tunnel ahead.
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Josephus records Simon, the Jewish leader, and other Jews hiding in tunnels like these: This Simon, during the siege of Jerusalem, was in the upper city; but when the Roman army was gotten within the walls, and were laying the city waste, he then took the most faithful of his friends with him . . . and let himself and all them down into a certain subterraneous cavern that was not visible above ground. Now, so far as had been dug before, they went onward along it without disturbance; but where they met with solid earth, they dug a mine under ground, and this in hopes that they should be able to proceed so far as to rise from under ground in a safe place, and by that means escape. But when they came to make the experiment, they were disappointed of their hope; for the miners could make but small progress, and that with dificulty also; insomuch that their provisions, though they distributed them by measure, began to fail them. And now Simon, thinking he might be able to astonish and elude the Romans, put on a white frock, and buttoned upon him a purple cloak, and appeared out of the ground in the place where the temple had formerly been. At the irst, indeed, those that saw him were greatly astonished, and stood still where they were; but afterward they came nearer to him, and asked him who he was. Now Simon would not tell them, but bid them call for their captain; and when they ran to call him, Terentius Rufus who was left to command the army there, came to Simon, and learned of him the whole truth, and kept him in bonds, and let Caesar know that he was taken. Thus did God bring this man to be punished for what bitter and savage tyranny he had exercised against his countrymen by those who were his worst enemies . . . This rise of his out of the ground did also occasion the discovery of a great number of others of the seditious at that time, who had hidden themselves under ground. - Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book VII chapter II
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Chapter 50
The Siloam Pool

The Pool of Siloam sits to the south of the City of David on the west side of the eastern hill. It received water from Hezekiahs Tunnel, which came originally from the Gihon Springs.
Notice the relationship of the stepped stone street to the Pool of Siloam and Hezekiahs Tunnel. This is a view of one side of the Pool of Siloam. The steps and platforms would allow people to walk down to the water level, which would change depending on the season and the amount of rainfall. The pool is not yet excavated to the left of this photo. Notice the corner of the pool in the bottom right corner of this photo.
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Water from Hezekiahs Tunnel still lows through a covered channel near the Pool of Siloam, and some of the original covering stones are still in place. Notice the stone pavement in the bottom left corner and the steps in the top left. This pool was discovered in 2004 during the preliminary stages of a public works project in the area.
The stones of the covered channel that brings water from Hezekiahs Tunnel into the area.
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This is the water channel. The Pool of Siloam is to the right in this photo. The circular holes in the pavement were designed to hold water jugs while they were being illed.
The steps of the Pool of Siloam. The corner of the pool can be seen in the background. This view shows the size of this important pool from the days of the New Testament, where Jesus sent a blind man to wash the mud from his eyes in John 9.
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This is an illustration of what the Pool of Siloam would have looked like. The photo above corresponds to the left side of this image. The area shown on the right side of the image is still unexcavated and so, still buried. The actual Herodian pavement can be seen in the bottom right corner of this picture in its actual relative position to the pool.
A drain in the Herodian pavement by the Pool of Siloam.
A water trough beside the Pool of Siloam has holes to support water jugs as they were being illed.
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A beveled hole in one of the steps at the Pool of Siloam, used to hold a beveled water jug.
A photo from inside the Pool of Siloam looking up at the excavated side. The left of the photo remains unexcavated as of 2010. This site was discovered in 2004.
Toni and Galyn exchange photos from the top and bottom of the Pool of Siloam while excavation continues at the site.
One of the four corners of the Pool of Siloam.
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Chapter 51
Pools of Bethesda (also called Bethseda, Beth-zatha)
The bridge-like structure on the right side of the photo is the dam that separated the south (left) side of the Pools of Bethesda from the north pool (to the right of the photo). The depth of the pool can be seen in this photo. When the Roman Empire became Christian (i.e., the Byzantine Empire of 326-638), it built a church over these two pools. One of the many arches that supported the large Byzantine structure can be seen in the middle of this photo.
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This is a model of Jerusalem as it appeared in 70 AD. Notice the two pools that made up the Pools of Bethesda. The south and north pools can be seen, along with the ive colonnaded porches that surrounded it. Each of the four sides had a colonnaded porch. The ifth colonnaded porch would be the covered dam that separated the two pools. The area of the Pools of Bethesda has always had a source of water. In the days of the Old Testament, the area was outside the city of Jerusalem to the north. It had a large pool that shepherds used and was called the Sheep Pool. The gate on the north side of Jerusalem was thus called the Sheep Gate. In the 700s BC a dam was built to turn the spring into a reservoir that would collect rain water which could then be channeled into the city. The area was associated with sheep, sacriice, and the Temple because of its proximity to the Temple. The Hasmoneans added a second pool on the south side of the dam and covered the channel to improve water quality. This site was uncovered in 1888 by K. Schick, but it had been known about since the days of the Byzantines and Crusaders, as evidenced by the remains of the church that was built over it. No ancient Jewish writers refer to this pool, although Josephus did write of the Pool of the Sheep-market. Some early Christian writers recorded a spring of water here that lowed with a red, ruddy color that some people have tried to associate with the blood of the Temple sacriices. The spring that feeds the pools has been located, and water still collects in the lower areas.
Water is still found under the vaulted rooms that supported the Byzantine church which was built over the northern pool around 350. It was destroyed in approximately 614.
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This is a view from the dam that separates the two pools looking down into the depths of the southern pool. The dam along the right of the photo would have supported one of the ive colonnaded streets. Jesus visited here in April of 28 AD during the second Passover of his ministry: Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by ive covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, Do you want to get well. Sir, the invalid replied, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me. Then Jesus said to him, Get up! Pick up your mat and walk. At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. - John 5:1-9 The center of this photo (between the two bases of a missing arch) shows the location of the central cistern of the Pools of Bethesda in the days of the New Testament. In the layer above that we can see the remains of a temple to Asclepius. This temple, dedicated to the Roman god of healing, was built by the Romans in the 200s for their new city Aelia Capitolina. Above that, we see the two stubs of columns from the Byzantine church that later stood on this site before it was destroyed in 614.
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Water located under an arch of the large Byzantine church built over the New Testament Pool of Bethesda. This photo was taken inside the northern pool against one of the edges of the pool.
This is the excavated southeast corner of the southern pool of the Pools of Bethesda. Notice the stone blocks used to build the walls of the pool on the left and bottom edges of the photo. The top right section of the photo shows unexcavated rubble, soil, rock, and ill.
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Chapter 52
Church of the Holy Sepulcher
The two grey domes of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher can be seen in the skyline of this photo looking west from the Mount of Olives. The Dome of the rock, which sets in the middle of this photo on the Temple Mount, was built 300 years later to rival the proclamation of Constantine and the Christian world made by the then magniicent Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The church was later totally destroyed by the Muslims in 1009, only to be rebuilt by the Crusaders after 1100.
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The Church of the Holy Sepulcher has been destroyed and rebuild several times through the centuries. The church we see today was constructed by the Crusaders. The small grey dome covers the rock of Calvary, and the large dome covers the site of Jesus burial and resurrection.
The cross on the grey dome over Calvary in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The area where the Church sits today was a large limestone quarry in 600-700 BC. The city of Jerusalem was to the SE and expanded irst to the west before it came north toward the quarry. In an area east of St. Helenas Chapel in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher the quarry was over 40 feet deep.
Today's Church of the Holy Sepulcher sets over two sites: Calvary and the tomb of Jesus. Both these sites were in the same garden outside the walls of Jerusalem in 30 AD, and now they are under one roof. John wrote that they were close to each other: At the place where Jesus was cruciied, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. - John 19:41-42
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Jesus himself was cruciied outside the city walls: And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. -Hebrews 13:12, 13 Not only that, but Jesus was also buried outside the city in a garden: The drawing above shows the abandoned quarry that was covered with reddish-brown soil in the 100s BC in order to create a garden. The area also supported cereal crops and an orchard of ig, carob, and olive trees. In 30 AD, this was the perfect place to cut new graves because of the bedrock left exposed around the quarry, because it had only recently become available so still had lots of available space, and because it was close to the city yet still outside the walls. Jerusalem was, and still is, surrounded by graves that had used for a thousand years leading up to 30 AD. This new garden was indeed a great opportunity for Joseph to be able to cut a grave so close to the city: Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. - Luke 23:50-53 Four tombs from this period have been excavated. One of the tombs was a kokh, a long, narrow recess carved for the placement of a body. Bones were left in the kokh for a period of time, then later collected and placed in an ossuary. Due to this method of dealing with dead bodies, tombs would rarely be new tombs, since they were used over and over by a family or a group of people. Another tomb found in this area was an arcosoliuim, or a shallow, rock-hewn cofin cut into the side of a wall with an arch-shaped top. This tomb has been chipped away by centuries of pilgrims. The third is a large tomb that, like the kokh mentioned above, was found in front of the church in the entry courtyard. Constantine cut this tomb larger to use as a cistern. Finally, another kokh tomb was found under the Coptic convent. It is clear and undeniable that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher stands on the site of a burial ground from the time of Jesus in the irst-century. The Jews buried their dead outside the city walls. At the place where Jesus was cruciied, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. -John 19:41
In 135, after the second Jewish revolt (132-135), Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem as the Roman city, Aelia Capitolina. He also renamed Judea Palaestina (that is, Palestine), after the ancient enemies of the Jews, the Philistines, who had ceased to be a people after the Babylonian invasions around 586 BC. Hadrian built a huge raised platform (a rectangular retaining wall illed with dirt) on the location of this ancient quarry covered with gardens and tombs in an effort to bury Calvary and the tomb of Jesus, an honored site of the Christians. The platform was needed to level the stone surface that was cut up by the quarry and the tombs. Hadrian built the retaining wall of this platform with Herodian ashlars (most likely from the Jewish Temple Mount). These stones are identical in size and facing to the Herodian ashlars in the retaining wall of the Temple Mount, which made Hadrians wall look like Herods Western Wall. Hadrian then built a temple to Venus on top of this platform. Eusebius writes about this pagan shrine in his work entitled, The Life of Constantine, written around 339 AD: For it had been in time past the endeavor of impious men (or rather let me say of the whole race of evil spirits through their means), to consign to the darkness of oblivion that divine monument of immortality to which the radiant angel had descended from heaven, and rolled away the stone for those who still had stony hearts, and who supposed that the living One still lay among the
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dead; and had declared glad tidings to the women also, and removed their stony-hearted unbelief by the conviction that he whom they sought was alive. This sacred cave, then, certain impious and godless persons had thought to remove entirely from the eyes of men, supposing in their folly that thus they should be able effectually to obscure the truth. Accordingly they brought a quantity of earth from a distance with much labor, and covered the entire spot; then, having raised this to a moderate height, they paved it with stone, concealing the holy cave beneath this massive mound. Then, as though their purpose had been effectually accomplished, they prepared on this foundation a truly dreadful sepulchre of souls, by building a gloomy shrine of lifeless idols to the impure spirit whom they call Venus, and offering detestable oblations therein on profane and accursed altars. For they supposed that their object could not otherwise be fully attained, than by thus burying the sacred cave beneath these foul pollutions. Unhappy men! they were unable to comprehend how impossible it was that their attempt should remain unknown to him who had been crowned with victory over death, any more than the blazing sun, when he rises above the earth, and holds his wonted course through the midst of heaven, is unseen by the whole race of mankind. Indeed, his saving power, shining with still greater brightness, and illumining, not the bodies, but the souls of men, was already illing the world with the effulgence of its own light. In 325 at the Council of Nicea, Macarius, the bishop of Jerusalem from 314 to 333, petitioned Constantine to demolish Hadrians temple and uncover the tomb of Christ. In 326 AD Helena, Constantines mother, visited Jerusalem and was told the site of Hadrians temple was the site of Jesus burial and resurrection. Constantine then ordered a rotunda to be built around Jesus tomb which sat in front of Calvary, and on the other side of Calvary, Constantine built a long basilica church. Eusebius goes on to record how Constantine ordered the destruction of Hadrians pagan shrine and the removal of the material and soil used to cover up the tomb of Jesus: He (Constantine) could not consent to see the sacred spot of which we have spoken, thus buried, through the devices of the adversaries, under every kind of impurity, and abandoned to forgetfulness and neglect; nor would he yield to the malice of those who had contracted this guilt, but calling on the divine aid, gave orders that the place should be thoroughly puriied ... As soon, then, as his commands were issued, these engines of deceit were cast down from their proud eminence to the very ground, and the dwelling-places of error, with the statues and the evil spirits which they represented, were overthrown and utterly destroyed. . . Nor did the emperors zeal stop here; but he gave further orders that the materials of what was thus destroyed, both stone and timber, should be removed and thrown as far from the spot as possible; and this command also was speedily executed. The emperor, however, was not satisied with having proceeded thus far: once more, ired with holy ardor, he directed that the ground itself should be dug up to a considerable depth, and the soil which had been polluted by the foul impurities of demon worship transported to a far distant place. (The Life of Constantine, book III, chapter XXVI and XXVII) As mentioned earlier, the stones that Constantine removed from the destroyed pagan shrine may have been Herodian ashlars from the Temple Mount. Still today there are Herodian ashlar stones at the depths of the foundations of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. When all the stone, debris, and soil were removed from Hadrians shrine the original rock quarry and tomb of Christ became visible. Eusebius, the church historian and biographer of Constantine continues to write around 329 AD: As soon as the original surface of the ground, beneath the covering of earth, appeared, immediately, and contrary to all expectation, the venerable and hallowed monument of our Saviors resurrection was discovered. Then indeed did this most holy cave present a faithful similitude of his return to life, in that, after lying buried in darkness, it again emerged to light, and afforded to all who came to witness the sight, a clear and visible proof of the wonders of which that spot had once been the scene, a testimony to the resurrection of the Savior clearer than any voice could give. (The Life of Constantine, Book III, Chapter XXVIII) Constantine then gave orders to the governors of the Eastern provinces to build a house of prayer. Eusebius records the order this way: The emperor sent forth injunctions which breathed a truly pious spirit, at the same time granting ample supplies of money, and commanding that a house of prayer worthy of the worship of God should be erected near the Saviours tomb on a scale of rich and royal greatness. (The Life of Constantine, Book III, Chapter XXIX) Eusebius even records the letter Constantine sent to Macarius, the presiding bishop over the church at Jerusalem at that time. In the letter Constantine describes his plans for the new construction and asks for Macarius advice concerning the ceiling of the church:
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It will be well, therefore, for your sagacity to make such arrangements and provision of all things needful for the work, that not only the church itself as a whole may surpass all others whatsoever in beauty, but that the details of the building may be of such a kind that the fairest structures in any city of the empire may be excelled by this . . . and as to the columns and marbles, whatever you shall judge, after actual inspection of the plan, to be especially precious and serviceable, be diligent to send information to us in writing, in order that whatever quantity or sort of materials we shall esteem from your letter to be needful, may be procured from every quarter, as required, for it is itting that the most marvelous place in the world should be worthily decorated. With respect to the ceiling of the church, I wish to know from you whether in your judgment it should be panel-ceiled, or inished with any other kind of workmanship. If the panel ceiling be adopted, it may also be ornamented with gold. (The Life of Constantine, Book III, Chapter XXX and XXX1) Accordingly, on the very spot which witnessed the Saviors sufferings, a new Jerusalem was constructed, over against the one so celebrated of old, which, since the foul stain of guilt brought on it by the murder of the Lord, had experienced the last extremity of desolation, the effect of Divine judgment on its impious people. It was opposite this city that the emperor now began to rear a monument to the Saviors victory over death, with rich and lavish magniicence. And it may be that this was that second and new Jerusalem spoken of in the predictions of the prophets, concerning which such abundant testimony is given in the divinely inspired records. (The Life of Constantine, Book III, Chapter XXXIII) Of course, the destruction of all Christian churches including the original Church of the Holy Sepulcher by the Persian hordes in 638, and the total destruction of the rebuilt Church of the Holy Sepulcher by the Muslim Egyptian Caliph al-Hakim in 1009, both provided clear evidence that the New Jerusalem had not yet come. When the crusaders arrived in 1099 they rebuilt the ruined church with parts of Hadrians temple that can be seen in eight different locations in the church today. The crusaders also used the remains of Constantines glorious rotunda and basilica, including marble pillars they reduced to half their original size. Godfrey of Bouillon became the irst Crusader king of Jerusalem on July 15, 1099 and called himself the Defender of the Holy Sepulcher. The Crusader church was completed ifty years later in 1149.
Construction of Constantine's Church of the Holy Sepulcher was begun in 326, and the building was dedicated on September 17, 335. The cutting away of all rock around the tomb was not completed until 384. It is interesting to note Eusebius understanding of the eschatological value of these events, and it is worth noting that Eusebius view relected the attitude of Constantine and the general Christian of that day. Eusebius interpretation of scripture and his understanding of eschatological events led him and Constantine to consider this building project part of the New Jerusalem, and Constantines reign as the reappearance of Christ on earth to rule through his church. This was one of several corruptions of eschatological interpretation that was to happen throughout church history. Eusebius wrote: This is the loor plan of Constantine's magniicent and extravagant Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It consisted of a Basilica, a colonnaded courtyard around Calvary, and a large colonnaded rotunda around Jesus tomb.
This is how the abandoned quarry/garden with graves would have looked in 30 AD. Notice the location of the northwest wall of the city on the right.
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In addition to the location being inside the walls in 326, another fact lends credibility to the Christians assertion: Hadrians pagan shrine was still standing there when Helena visited. If they did not know for certain they were right, why would the Christians have believed the burial site of their resurrected Lord had been buried under a vile temple of corrupt pagan worship for 190 years? Archaeology has now conirmed three important facts about the current site of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher: 1. It was outside the city walls of Jerusalem in 30 AD 2. It had many tombs in the irst century (and they are clearly seen yet today) 3. There is an earlier building here that was built before the time of Constantine and Helena (i.e., Hadrians temple to Venus)
After Roman Emperor Hadrian squelched the Second Jewish Revolt in 135 AD, he desecrated the Temple Mount with pagan temples and a statue of himself. He also built a platform with pagan shrines on top of Calvary and the tomb of the Christians God and Savior, Jesus. This made the Jewish Temple Mount and both of the Christian sites inaccessible to worshippers, yet at the same time, it preserved the knowledge of their location so that Constantine was able to build the Church of the Holy Sepulcher here.
This diagram shows the large amount of stone that was chipped away by Constantine's workers in order to prepare Calvary and the tomb for the Byzantine building project. Notice the tomb of Christ (A). The letter A is on the inside of the tomb where the burial slab that held Jesus body is located. The white box around the tomb is rock that was left intact. The rest of the rock was chipped away to form a square rock box around the tomb and burial bench of Jesus. Constantine then built a rotunda around this rock box with the tomb inside. Recent excavations have revealed Herodian ashlars in the remains of Hadrians foundation walls at the lowest levels of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The presence of these stones helps conirm that this is the actual site of Jesus burial. Further evidence comes from a time even before Constantine built his church in 326. When Constantines mother visited Jerusalem she was told that this exact spot was the location of Calvary and Christs tomb. The fact that by 326 this area was inside the busy city of Jerusalem is strong evidence that they were right. Based on the testimony of scripture and our knowledge of ancient Jewish practice, it is certain that Jesus was buried outside the city walls. But this site was inside the city. Had they not actually known and been merely guessing, they would have picked a more logical place. For example, the Garden Tomb, also known as Gordons Calvary, would have been a much better guess. Even today it looks like a better location for Jesus death, burial and resurrection. The fact that Helena was shown this unlikely site in 326 gives it credibility. This is the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The current building was inaugurated by the Crusaders who rebuilt it in 1149. This site was honored by irst century Christians, buried by Hadrian in 135, identiied by local believers in 326, covered by Constantines church by 335, which was then destroyed by the Persians in 614, only to be rebuilt and destroyed again by the Muslim Caliph Hakim in 1009. The right (east) half of the main entrance to the church was walled shut by the Muslims after the Crusaders lost Jerusalem in 1187.
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Today this church is shared by six groups of Christians: Latin Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Syrians, Copts, and Ethiopians. This ladder is located on a ledge above the main entrance. It was placed there some time in the late 1800s to take food to Armenian monks who were locked inside the church. This ladder can be seen in photos from at least 1890. The ladder remains where it is because the various Christian groups that control the church cannot agree on who is responsible for putting it away. Each of the six groups - Greek Orthodox, Roman (Latin) Catholics, Armenians, Copts, Syrians, and Ethiopians have their own areas of jurisdiction which were precisely deined in 1852.
The front door on the left side of the entryway of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher shows charred remains near the metal handles and locks from a serious ire in the church in 1808. In 1927 an earthquake also caused great damage to the church. Damage from the earthquake was not repaired until 1959 because it took 32 years for the Latin, Greek and Armenian Christians to come to an agreement on how the church was to be repaired. This is the view standing in the main entrance of the church. The doors for this entrance are on the left and right sides of the photo. On the loor directly in front is the Stone of Anointing where Jesus body was laid for anointing after he was taken down from the cross. Calvary is directly to the right about ive more steps into the building. The tomb of Jesus is to the left of the anointing stone, about 70 steps away. The anointing stone was placed between Calvary and the tomb, in the general area where Joseph would have wrapped Jesus body and women may have applied the spices. The stone that is here today dates to 1808 when it was put here to replace the crusader period stone that was destroyed by ire.
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This is a loor plan of today's Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Locate the "Entrance" (right above the Entrance Court) and the unblocked door seen above. Some areas we will visit in the next few pages are: 1) the steps up to Calvary located behind the blocked entrance 2) the two views of Calvary up stairs that are called Latin Calvary and Greek Calvary 3) the Chapel of Adam (directly below the Greek Calvary, but not marked on this diagram) 4) the Stone of Anointing in the main entryway 5) the Rotunda with columns and an arched dome 6) the Holy Sepulcher and the burial bench of Jesus 7) the Syrian Chapel with access to First Century Tombs. We will then move to the right side of the diagram passing through some unmarked hallways and chapels to 8) the 29 Steps with Cross Grafiti, down into the 9) Chapel of St. Helen. We will then return to the Entrance to watch the Muslim gate keeper lock the door of the church at the end of the day for the divided Christian groups who worship here. These are the eighteen steps up to Calvary. The steps are directly behind the blocked doorway at the front of the church. The steps are worn with dips, and the stairs tilt to the left. The rock of Calvary is located a few feet on the other side of this wall. At the top of the stairs we emerge into the Roman (Latin) Catholic Chapel for Calvary.
This is the Roman Catholic, or Latin, Chapel next to Calvary. It is upstairs and to the right of the main entrance. A few steps ahead and to the left we enter the Greek Chapel, or the Greek Orthodox altar at Calvary. The altar you see here was made in Florence, Italy in 1588 and was donated by Cardinal Medici. On the front of the altar are four scenes from Jesus suffering hammered into silver panels two panels are on the bottom and the other two are directly above them.
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This is the Greek Altar in the Greek Chapel at Calvary (notice in the room to the right is the Roman Catholic Chapel). Underneath the altar and just in front of the picture (by the head of the person who is kneeling) is an opening through which you can actually touch the bedrock of Calvary at a spot that is traditionally believed to be near the place where the base of the cross was placed. On both sides of the altar the original bedrock of the rock known as Calvary (Golgotha or The Skull) can be seen through the viewing glass. The glass is there because, through the centuries, visiting pilgrims have chipped off souvenirs from these holy sites, including the original burial bench in Jesus tomb. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). Here they cruciied him. ...for the place where Jesus was cruciied was near the city. - John 19:17, 18, 20
This is a close view of Calvary's stone on the right side of the Greek altar in the Greek Chapel. The base of the cross would have stood in one of the many holes chiseled into the rock that were left from the time when it was a quarry located just outside the city walls.
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During the Byzantine period many of the traditions (both true and merely legendary) that had been associated with the Temple Mount were transferred to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. For example, Adam was said to be buried beneath the cross on Calvary, thus the meaning of Golgotha - the place of the skull. Also, the sacriice of Isaac was transferred from the Temple Mount to the Holy Sepulcher. With the building of the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount, these traditions were transferred back to the Temple Mount by the Muslims.
This is a close up of the rock of Calvary as seen through the wall in the Chapel of Adam. We are back on the main loor in the Chapel of Adam. We will leave this room and turn left to walk to the tomb of Jesus, going past the Stone of Anointing, which would be very close to the place Joseph and Nicodemus wrapped Jesus body: As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. ...Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb. - Matthew 27:57-61 So as evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus body. ...So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. - Mark 15:42-46
Down the stairs and directly below the Greek Chapel at Calvary is another chapel called The Chapel of Adam. Here again we see more of the stone of Calvary in a viewing case. There is a crack in this rock that tradition says was caused by the earthquake that occurred when Jesus died, but archaeologists and geologists say the crack is an original law that would have rendered it useless for making blocks. That is why it (Calvary) was left in the quarry. It was rejected by the builders.
Through the glass case on a wall of the Chapel of Adam we can see a side view of the rock called Calvary.
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The Stone of Anointing between Calvary and the tomb. This stone was placed here 1810 after the ire of 1808 destroyed the previous stone that had been here since the time of the Crusaders in the 1100s.
We enter the rotunda that encircles the tomb of Jesus. These are the columns at the front on the left side of the Rotunda. The columns in todays rotunda over the tomb of Christ are parts of Constantines original rotunda built in the 300s. This means the original columns were taller and much more magniicent than what we see today. Constantines spectacular rotunda with its large dome covering the tomb of Christ was intended to declare Christs victory and reign. Eusebius, the church historian from the days of Constantine, quoted Constantine as ordering a rotunda built for Christ that was of a magniicence worthy of his wealth and of his crown.
This modern Greek Orthodox mosaic hangs behind the Stone of Anointing and can be seen as we enter the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The mosaic shows Jesus' body being removed from the cross with the skull of Adam in the ground beneath it (far right). This is why the chapel under the Greek Chapel at Calvary is called the Chapel of Adam. According to tradition, Adam was buried under Calvary when he died. But, an even earlier tradition has Adam being buried under the Most Holy Place on the Temple Mount. It appears this Jewish tradition followed the Christians from the Temple Mount to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. To the left of the Calvary scene is the middle scene, showing the anointing of Jesus body. The third scene, furthest to the left, is the burial of Jesus body in the tomb. All three of these events took place under the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
These columns are on the right side in the back of the Rotunda as we face the tomb.
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Originally, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was constructed as two sites. The irst was a rotunda (a building with a circular ground plan) with a dome marking the tomb of Christ. The second was a basilica church on the site of the cruciixion. (A basilica is large-roofed hall with interior colonnades that divides the space, giving aisles or arcaded spaces at one or both sides. There is also an apse at one end where the church leaders sit. The central aisle is usually wider and higher than the lanking aisles. This design allows light to enter through the clerestory windows, the upper row of windows, in order to bring light all the way to the center of the large building).
These columns are on the left side toward the back of the tomb.
The dome of the Rotunda. This is the inside of the larger grey dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Between these two buildings was a courtyard enclosed in a columned portico. All this was located on the west side of the Cardo, Jerusalems main street at that time. The Basilica faced the street and was the front entrance of the complex. In 1876 a mosaic called the Madaba Map was found on the loor of a Byzantine church from the 500s in Madaba, Jordan. This map shows the Cardo Street, the Nea Church and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The full map was of Israel, and included the area from Beth-shan to the Nile River in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Arabian Desert in the east. It is the oldest map of Israel in existence. The map is about 65 feet by 16 feet, and was made from more than 2 million tesserae. There are 150 captions, all in Greek.
Columns, with the dome of the Rotunda above. This is inside the larger of the two grey domes of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
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The Madaba map from the 500's AD shows the main Roman road called the Cardo with the most important Christian churches in relation to the Cardo. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is shown with its basilica built in front of Calvary so that it extends all the way to the Cardo. Also, shown on the map are the Nea Church, the Siloam Church and the Zion Church. On Easter each year during the Byzantine era, a very large procession began at the Nea Church and progressed down the Cardo Street to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Right in the middle of the Rotunda is the Holy Sepulcher, the Tomb of Jesus. The original rock that surrounded the tomb was removed by Constantine beginning in 326 so that only a large square rock block was left surrounding the tomb. In 1009 the Muslim Caliph from Egypt, al-Hakim, completely destroyed the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and crushed the stone block around the tomb that was left by Constantine. The only portion of the tomb that was spared was the burial bench because it was covered in the rubble. Today the burial bench exists but is covered with a marble slab to preserve what is left from visiting Christians who chipped away at it in order to get a piece of the tomb.
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Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb. - Matthew 27:59-61 (also Mark 15:46-47; Luke 23:53)
An image of what the tomb of Jesus originally looked like. The only part left is the burial bench.
The front of the Holy Sepulcher. The only original part of Jesus tomb that is left is the burial bench in the back left of the elaborate building.
This is the marble slab that covers the burial bench of Jesus located in the Rotunda of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It was placed here in 1555. The split in the middle of the slab was put there on purpose to discourage Muslim looters during the Ottoman Empire.
This photo provides a perspective of the distance between Calvary and the tomb of Jesus. This was originally a rock quarry that was abandoned and used for cutting tombs in the days of the New Testament. The Stone of Anointing is in the middle of this photo.
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The nearness of Calvary to the tomb of Christ is attested to in the Gospel of John. John wrote that they were close together and located in the same garden: At the place where Jesus was cruciied, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb. -John 19:41
A small room behind the Rotunda, just a few steps from the tomb of Jesus, provides access to other tombs from the same period. In this picture is a small opening that leads to the long narrow tombs. In the next photo we will look inside this doorway. Then, we will crouch down and enter the tombs inside.
Inside the small opening we can see the original bedrock and tombs in the back. There is a small door to the right that blocks access into one of the tombs. Inside the chamber we can see the long, narrow tombs. These are just a few feet from Jesus' tomb and are cut into the same rock.
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Here we look inside the areas where bodies were laid after they were wrapped in cloth and spices. After about a year, the body would have decayed, and the bones would then be collected and placed in an ossuary box.
This is a photo of the Chapel of the True Cross. Tradition says that Constantine's mother found the true cross of Jesus hidden in this chapel when they uncovered the area in 326. A cross that was considered the "true" cross existed, but was taken by the Persians. It was later recovered and restored to the church. Ironically, it eventually disappeared completely due to Christian pilgrims picking pieces of wood from it and taking them home. The Chapel of the True Cross is the lowest and easternmost point in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The chapel got its name from a legend that says Helena found the true cross of Christ there. This cave is on the opposite side of other irst century tombs and was once a quarry, but after the quarry was abandoned it was converted into a cistern. To the right of the altar is a fresco painted by the Crusaders, now protected by plexiglass. To the left of the altar is a small room called the Chapel of St. Vartan. Inside this room are Herodian ashlar stones from the Temple Mount, remains of Hadrians foundation walls built in 135 AD for his pagan temples. On one of these ashlars is a painting of a ship with the Latin inscription DOMINE IVIMUS (Lord, we came) drawn by a Christian pilgrim sometime between 135 and 200 AD. This inscription conirms the belief that
Crosses cut in the walls on both sides of the stairs leading down to the church of St. Helen. This cross grafiti has been carved by pilgrims through the centuries. The design of most of these crosses is from the Crusader period.
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Galyn and Toni in the lowest part of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, in the Chapel of the True Cross. (When we reached this location we set the camera on automatic-timer and took a photo of ourselves.) The Herodian ashlar with the ship painting is to the left of this photo but is only accessible by returning to the Chapel of St. Helen up the stairs, and then entering the Chapel of St. Vartan from the left side of the altar.
early Christians visited this site to honor Jesus, even while a pagan shrine stood here. The boat could be a Byzantine sailing ship with the mast lowered. The bow of the ship is to the left, and the stern and two steering rudders at the back are on the right side. If that is the case, the inscription would be from around the time of Constantine, probably after Constantine had ordered the destruction of Hadrians temples but before the Church of the Holy Sepulcher had been built. The inscription is from the traditional Psalm of the pilgrim to Jerusalem: I rejoiced with those who said to me, Let us go to the house of the Lord. Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem. - Psalm 122:1 Another interpretation of the Latin inscription is DD M NOMINUS (the gift of Marcus Nominus).
The image of a ship painted on a Herodian ashlar found at the bottom of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Chapel of St. Vartan. It is accessed from the left side of the altar in the Chapel of St. Helen, and is next to the Chapel of the True Cross. Hadrian reused the Herodian stones from the Temple to build his pagan shrine over the tomb of Jesus. It appears a Christian pilgrim visited this site after sailing here from a foreign land. He drew the image of his ship with a lowered sail and wrote, Lord, we came.
This is the ceiling of the Chapel of the True Cross. The large rock portion at the top of the photo was rejected by the cutters and was left in the quarry. The square openings at the top of the vaulted ceiling were used to lower buckets into this part of the quarry when it had been converted into a cistern before the time of Constantine.
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This photo shows the doors of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher being locked by a Muslim man whose family has done it every day since 1178 AD when the Muslim Nuseibeh family was appointed by Saladin to take care of the key and manage the locking and unlocking of the 3 ton doors for the constantly ighting Christian groups. During the 1700s there were tensions between the Ottoman Empire authorities and the Nuseibeh family, so in 1789 the Joudeh family was given the responsibility of assisting the Nuseibeh family. Since that time a member of the Joudeh family brings the key to a member of the Nuseibeh family who then unlocks and locks the Church door for the Christians.
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Chapter 53
Garden Tomb and Gordons Calvary
This site is called Gordon's Calvary because in 1883 British General Charles Gordon suggested that this outcropping of rock just across the street from the north city wall was Golgotha, the Place of the Skull. The proposal that this was the original Calvary gained some momentum since a garden tomb had been found near this location in 1867. This site soon began to challenge the legitimacy of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as the location of Jesus cruciixion, burial and resurrection. This is an interesting location but there are many reasons why it cannot be the actual site. Notice the impression of a face that can be seen in this rock: the two eye sockets in the middle of the photo with the forehead above, and the bridge of the nose below.
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About 300 feet to the left (west) of the "skull" of Gordon's Calvary is a rolling stone tomb (there is a track or groove cut in the rock in front of the entrance of the tomb for a rolling stone) with a burial bench inside. This tomb was discovered in 1867, and because of its proximity to "the Skull" it was assumed by the British to be the tomb of Christ. Of course, this assumption went against 1,800 years of history and tradition (and now, today, archaeological evidence as well) that pointed to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as being the authentic place of Jesus death, burial and resurrection. This tomb was not an unused new tomb in the time of Christ, nor did Joseph cut it in the irst century. Tombs of the New Testament era had burial chambers, or burial benches, cut out of rock behind the entrance room (called the vestibule), similar to those seen in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The style of this tomb, however, is typical of tombs from 800-600 BC, with two burial benches cut into the wall. The Byzantine Christians of 300-600 AD did not consider this a holy site, since they cut down the burial benches to create a sarcophagus to bury their dead. Even the Christian Crusaders used this site as a stable.
Notice the burial bench was carved away by the Byzantine Christians to create a rock sarcophagus.
A carved water channel cut in the pavement in front of the tomb entrance
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Galyn steps out of the Garden Tomb. One of the reasons this site is promoted by Protestant groups and receives attention in Protestant Bible dictionaries, atlases, and other study books is because the Protestants are newcomers to Christianity and have no designated place in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Protestant groups did not emerge from the Roman (Latin) Catholic branch of church history until the 1500 and 1600s, long after the church building was controlled by six ancient Christian denominations powerful in the Eastern World Latin Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Syrian, Coptic, and Ethiopian. In fact, many Protestant churches show no interest in Jerusalem or the Holy Land at all. Nonetheless, the Garden Tomb is not the original site of Jesus burial and resurrection. There is no reason to even consider this location, other than the fact that it is a tomb outside the walls of Jerusalem. But then, there are hundreds of tombs outside the walls of Jerusalem, many with outcroppings of rock near tombs set in ancient gardens. This site is interesting, but it is not unique.
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Chapter 54
Fort Antonia
Fort Antonia, Herod's fortress used to oversee the Temple Mount, sat on this outcropping of rock that served as the foundation of the north wall of the Temple Mount. There are several things to notice in this photo: 1) the outcropping of bedrock from Mount Moriah seen in the bottom right corner 2) the remains of the original Herodian ashlars (about 26 remain) that were placed on the rockscarp and served as the outside of Fort Antonias south wall and also as the inside of the Temple Mounts north wall
3) trapezoidal notches in the wall called sockets that were cut by Muslims at a later time for extended beams that supported a roof 4) the current location of a Muslim boys school called the Umariyya School 5) not visible in this photo but located east (right) of the Herodian ashlars are ive or more 19inch square sockets about 29 feet above the ground; these sockets supported beams for the colonnade that covered a pavement which ran around the inside of the Temple Mount walls in the days of Jesus and the New Testament.
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Herod built a fortress on the higher bedrock in the northwest corner of the Temple Mount to keep an eye on activities and oversee the Jews in the Temple. He named this stronghold Fort Antonia after his friend Marc Antony. The south wall of Fort Antonia was built in line with the north wall of the Temple Mount on an outcropping of rock. This rockscarp can still be seen today protruding above ground level. The south wall of a Muslim boys school sets on this rockscarp on the outside. Still remaining in this wall are about 26 Herodian ashlar stones, still in contact with the bedrock where they were originally placed. In addition to the typical margins and bosses of the ashlars, a couple of interesting things can be seen in these blocks and on the rockscarp itself. In the rockscarp below the school are two sets of sockets (notches cut into the rock to support a beam that extends out from the wall to support the roof of a structure): 1) The lower trapezoidal sockets are in the photo (9 feet above the ground). They are from 661-900 AD and were made to hold the vaulting springs, or beams of the roof, of a portico built by the Muslims at that time. 2) 20 feet above them is a series of sockets 19 inches square, which held the massive roof beams of a majestic portico (or a covered colonnade) whose columns were 29 feet high. This portico, which Josephus says was 50 feet wide (War, 5:190), was built by Herod and went all the way around the Temple Mount. The pillared portico, or colonnade (a walkway lined with columns and covered with a roof), would have run along the front of this rockscarp. The roof was supported by wooden beams extending upward from the 19-inch square sockets cut into Herodian ashlars 29 feet up the wall. The location and spacing of the columns can be identiied by simply extending a perpendicular line out from the remaining 19-inch sockets. The wooden beams placed in these sockets would have lain on the columns, which would have made them about 27 feet tall. The original Herodian paving stones from this colonnaded pavement were visible until recently, but they, like many other evidences of the ancient Jewish presence on the Temple Mount, have been covered up or removed by the Muslims. Even the trees growing along this wall block a clear view of the sockets.
The irst of ive 19-inch square sockets that supported beams above the colonnade of the Jewish Temple is circled in one of the Herodian ashlars 29 feet above the ground. The location of the other four sockets, which are blocked by the trees, is marked by small white squares. Below them, just right of the irst tree trunk, is a trapezoidal socket cut later by Muslims.
This is a model of the northwest corner of the Temple Mount. Fort Antonia is outside, but shared the north wall with the Temple complex, which then served as Fort Antonia's south wall. The portico, or covered colonnade, continued all around the inside of the Temple Mount. At the south end, above the Double Gate and Triple Gate, the covered colonnade became a higher and wider section with four columns instead of two. This area was known as Solomons Porch, Solomons Colonnade, or the Royal Stoa.
A close up of one of the 19-inch square sockets cut into the Temple Mount that was used to support a wooden beam that sat on the columns and served as part of the rooing structure in the colonnade.
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Today, above the rockscarp is the Umariyya School, a Muslim school for boys. Herodian stones from the outside south wall of Fort Antonia can be seen in the south wall of the Umariyya School. A 13-foot ancient wall can be seen inside the southern rooms of the Umariyya School. This thick wall would have been the southern wall of Fort Antonia. To the east of the school is another building that still has six and a half feet of a Herodian pilaster, which would have decorated the outside of the Jewish Temple Mount wall in the irst century.
One of the many sockets cut later in the rockscarp by Muslims.
This is a photo of the trapezoidal sockets cut about 9 feet high in the bedrock. They were cut between 650 and 900 AD by Muslims to support wooden beams for one of the roof systems in their buildings.
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Chapter 55
Phasael Tower
Three portions of Herods Phasael tower can be seen in the photo to the left. The lower portion is built on an incline like a glacis (an artiicial slope built against a fortiication for military defense). The middle portion is part of Herods original tower of Phasael built around 20 BC, along with the base. The upper portion was built by Suleiman the Magniicent in 1537.
The base of Phasael Tower sits in a dry moat inside the Jaffa Gate by the Citadel. This used to be the northwest corner of Herods city of Jerusalem. Herod built three towers on the north side of his palace, which sat along the inside of the west wall of the city of Jerusalem. The towers were called: -Phasael, after Herods brother; this tower was housed a luxury apartment -Hippicus, after Herods friend; this tower was for water storage -Mariamne, after Herods favorite wife; this tower was the location of another extravagant luxury apartment
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Chapter 56
Struthion Pool
The Hasmoneans built an open air aqueduct to bring water from the north side of the Temple Mount into the city and the Temple Mount. The water was collected in the Struthion pool. Herod later cut through the aqueduct and converted the water supply into a moat and water reservoir around Fort Antonia. He continued to use the aqueduct to ill this pool, cutting off the supply of water to the city and the Temple Mount from this location. Josephus describes this reservoir and calls it Struthius (sparrow or lark). It was one of the smaller reservoirs in Jerusalem. After Hadrian took the city in 135 he covered it with an arched roof to create water cisterns below, and then built a marketplace above. Hadrians arches split the pool into two halves. The pool was eventually forgotten until the Convent of the Sisters of Zion was built on this location in the 1800s, and the pools were exposed. Today the Struthion Pool still collects water and can be seen at the north end of the Western Wall Tunnels.
This is one of the vaulted arches built in 135 AD to cover this open aired Struthion Pool. The opening or hole seen in the top of the arch provided access from the pavement above to the water below by lowering a bucket on a rope.
The Struthion Pool measures about 171 by 46 feet and sets below the pavement of the plaza and market place supported by the vaulted arches built by Hadrian for his city Aelia Capitolina in 135 AD.
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Chapter 57
Garden of Gethsemane
The Garden of Gethsemane is a 10 minute walk from the Temple Mount through the Kidron Valley and part way up the Mount of Olives. The age of these olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane easily date back to the days of the Crusades. A few of the trees (between 3 to 8 trees) are possibly 2,000 years old. This olive grove was stripped of trees during the war in 68-70 AD by the Romans for use as ire wood and siege equipment against the city of Jerusalem. This means it is unlikely that any of these exact trees were here at the time of Christ in 30 AD, but scholars do estimate the age of these trees to be anywhere between one and two thousand years.
An ancient olive tree grows in the Garden of Gethsemane.
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Chapter 58
Tombs in Hinnom
There are many tombs in the Hinnom Valley. These tombs date from the time of David and include all periods of the Old Testament, through the Hasmonean age, and into the days of the New Testament. Tombs of the High Priests and their families are here, as is the tomb for Herods family. Herod himself, however, was buried at the Herodian. His tomb was discovered in the spring of 2007. Below are two photos of tombs in the Hinnom Valley.
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Chapter 59
Other Notable Tombs in Jerusalem
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Section F: Roman, Muslim, and Crusader Periods

Chapter 60
Ecce Homo (Roman)

One of the areas the Romans attacked when they laid siege to Jerusalem in 70 AD was the stronghold of Fort Antonia, which Jewish rebels had taken over and barricaded themselves inside of when they drove the Romans out in 66 AD. In order to reach the north wall of Fort Antonia, the Romans had to build a ramp across the Struthion Pool that served as a moat on the north wall of the fort. The ramp they built was supported by an arch, and this arch is known today as the Ecce Homo Arch. Ecce Homo is Latin for Behold the man. The arch got its name because it was once believed that the ancient pavement that covers the Struthion Pool had been the loor of Fort Antonia. If that were true, this could have been where Pilate stood when he spoke to the crowd and condemned Jesus with those words. The pavement has since been identiied as the stone covering built by Hadrian in 135 AD when the Struthion Pool was covered. The Struthion Pool was an open air reservoir in the days of the Hasmoneans and Herod. It collected rainwater that ran from the roofs of buildings. In 135 Hadrian covered the Struthion Pool and supported the pavement with underground arches that can be seen yet today at the north end of the Western Wall tunnels. The pavement that Hadrian laid over the Struthion Pool in 135 served as the ground of a Roman market. This pavement can be seen inside the Convent of the Sisters of Zion. Inscribed on one of the stones in the pavement inside the convent is a pattern for a Roman game. It was previously assumed that the pavement was from the loor of Fort Antonia where Jesus stood trial before Pilate. It was also imagined that the game could have been played by Roman soldiers as they waited for Jesus trial and execution. Recent and more accurate archaeology place this pavement on the streets of the open market from around 135 AD. The game board that is etched into the paving stone was indeed cut by Roman soldiers, but most likely by soldiers waiting in the streets at the market, not at Christs trial. The Ecce Homo Arch remaining from the Roman attack on Fort Antonia in 70 AD. In this photo looking east, the Convent of the Sisters of Zion is on the right. One side of the original arch is still seen in the convent wall. The arch that supported the ramp the Romans used to attack Fort Antonia still stands today and spans the Via Dolorosa. In 135 after Hadrian had defeated the Jews in the Second Jewish Revolt (Bar Kochba Revolt) this same arch was converted into a monument to his victory. It was similar in purpose to the Arch of Titus in Rome commemorating the 70 AD victory over the Jews. The Ecce Homo Arch was lanked by two smaller arches, one of which can still be seen in the basement of the Convent of the Sisters of Zion.
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Chapter 61
Roman Inscription
The Jews revolted against Rome in 132. They may have regained control of Jerusalem at that time, and while they held it, began to rebuild their temple on the Temple Mount. Two ancient documents speak of Hadrian destroying the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. One source is rabbinic material. The second comes from a remaining portion of Chronicon Paschale, a Christian chronicle written around 630 AD, which is an important source of information about the Byzantine Empire of that time and earlier Jewish history. When Emperor Julian gave the Jews permission to rebuild the temple during his reign in 361 AD, he spoke of three previous destructions of the Jewish Temple: by Babylon in 586 BC, by Rome under Titus in 70 AD and by Hadrian in 135 AD following the Second Jewish revolt. One of the irst things Bar Kochba did in 132 was to mint and issue a coin for the newly-restored kingdom of Israel. The coins image included the front of the new Temple in Jerusalem on one side, and on the other side two silver trumpets used to call Israel to war from the Temple. Hadrian followed the suppression of this revolt by building of a temple to Jupiter on the Temple Mount and positioning a statue of himself there also.
This photo shows the southern double gate. This wall contains a stone fragment from the base of a Roman statue from the Temple Mount dedicated to Antoninus Pius. The Bordeaux Pilgrim saw this inscription and the statue that went with it setting on the Temple Mount when he visited Jerusalem 333 AD. The Bordeaux Pilgrim records that there were two statues of Hadrian on the Temple Mount, but actually, one would have been of Hadrian and the other of his adopted son, Antoninus Pius, who became emperor after him. They both had beards and even as you look at the inscription today you can see why the Bordeaux Pilgrim thought it was a second statue of Hadrian.
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The Roman Temple of Jupiter was torn down by Constantine. The stones were later used by the Muslims to build the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The stone with the inscription was apparently found and placed upside down to replace a broken block above the gate. Hershel Shanks (archaeologist and editor of Biblical Archaeology Review) says: Hadrian erected an equestrian statue of himself on the Temple Mount. The anonymous fourthcentury pilgrim known only as the Bordeaux Pilgrim reports that he saw two statues of Hadrian on the Temple Mount when he visited the site. The Bordeaux Pilgrim probably mistakenly identiied the second statue; Hadrian's successor, Antonius Pius (138-161 AD), probably added an equestrian statue of himself, which the Bordeaux Pilgrim saw. . . It is quite possible that the Bordeaux Pilgrim saw this inscription when it was part of a statue on the Temple Mount. But he misread it. Antonius had been adopted by Hadrian and named as his successor in 138 A.D. Thus, Antoninus's name included the name of Hadrian. The Bordeaux Pilgrim apparently looked only at the irst two lines and concluded that it was a second statue of Hadrian. Both had a thick beard and looked much alike when they were older. Some modern scholars have made the same mistake and read the same inscription now in secondary use as referring to Hadrian instead of Antoninus. They apparently focused on the name Hadrianus, ignoring the following name, Antoninus. A close up of the stone outlined in white in the previous photo. This stone bears the inscription below. Hadrians inscription reads: TITO AEL HADRIANO ANTONINO AUG PIO P P PONTIF AUGUR DD Translation of Latin: To Titus Ael[ius] Hadrianus Antoninus Aug[ustus] Pius the f[ather] of the f[atherland], pontif[ex], augur. D[ecreed] by the D[ecurions] - Hershel Shanks, Jerusalems Temple Mount: From Solomon to the Goldern Dome, p. 48
Chapter 62
Cardo (Byzantine)
A Cardo Maximus was located in all Roman cities and military camps. It was the main north-south road that ran through the city and served as the center for the local economy. It was also the main branch for all other roads. The main east-west road was the secondary road and was called Decumanus Maximus. When Hadrian ended the Second Jewish Rebellion (Bar Kochba Revolt) in 135 AD, the Romans rebuilt Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina, and a Cardo Maximus was added. Beginning in 1967, major sections of this 1900-year-old street have been excavated, and are reused in todays Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem. The entire roadway was originally 74 feet wide (the road itself was 40 feet wide with colonnaded and covered sidewalks on both sides to protect pedestrians from trafic and the heat of the sun). Shops were located all along both sides of the street. Hadrian began building the Cardo in the north of the city at the Damascus Gate in 135 AD. Later, around 527, the Christian Emperor Justinian completed the road so that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was connected to the southern part of the city, past the Nea Church and the southern gate.
A map found on the loor of a Byzantine church from around 500 AD shows the Cardo as the main road of Jerusalem. The pillars in the photos below are detailed on this map from 1500 years ago. Also notice the socalled Eastern Cardo, which is just above the Cardo Maximus on this map. The Eastern Cardo only has one row of columns.
The Cardo built by the Romans (135-312) and used by the Byzantines. The road is in the middle of the photo and extends to the left past the edge. (Imagine it without the modern square pillars.) To the right are the original columns of the colonnaded street. To the right of the columns is the Roman sidewalk. Notice the square curb. Curb, columns and sidewalk were also on the other side of this street.
Shops were located behind the sidewalk. Two of the arched shop fronts can still be seen (top left quadrant). Notice again the street pavement (lower left corner), the square street curb, the columns that still remain from the colonnade, the pedestrian sidewalk protected by the columns, the place where the covering would have been, and the remains of ive shops and their walls.
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The smaller rocks in the wall were placed to block an ancient shop entrance.
Part of the ancient Cardo that has been modernized. Notice the pavement and the ancient store fronts which are now home to modern shops. Toni is shopping under the Israeli lag on the right side. A very nice art shop that sells prints by local artists (at least one of whom also works in the shop) is on the right.
Ancient arched shop fronts and their vaulted rooms along the sidewalk of the Cardo in ancient Aelia Capitolina, the Roman Jerusalem.
Ancient pavement stones from the Cardo (top back) lay beside modern reconstructions (front bottom). Notice the modern city street level is about 20 feet above the street level of 135 AD. See the modern street in the top left, with a stairway coming down to the Cardo.
Chapter 63
Roman Wall by the Western Wall Plaza (Roman) -The Eastern Cardo
The Madaba map, a detailed mosaic from 542-570 found on a Byzantine church loor in Jordan, shows the location of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Nea Church, the Cardo Street and much more. One the details portrayed on the Madaba map is another Roman street to the east of the main Cardo street, which has thus been called the Eastern Cardo Street. In 2007 a major colonnaded street running under the west portion of the Western Wall Prayer Plaza was uncovered during the early construction stages of a public service building. It appears the Eastern Cardo Street has been discovered. On the Madaba map this street runs northwest along the Tyropoean Valley to a place where it connects with the Cardo street in a large paved area with a large Roman pillar in front of the Damascus Gate (which was known as the New Gate i.e., Nea Gate in the year 333 AD) in the north.
This Roman road was just uncovered in 2007 near the Western Wall Plaza (top edge of this photo). The pavement and remains of walls from Aelia Capitolina, the Roman city rebuilt over Jerusalem (135-325 AD) can be seen here. The plans now are to continue with the excavation, and then build the public building over the area, with a museum of the Roman city and street in the lower level of the building. The pavement stones are set diagonally in typical Roman style, which may have helped prevent wagons from slipping. There is also a drainage system built under the pavement stones.
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Chapter 64
Nea Church (Byzantine)

Emperor Justinian (527-565) had the Nea Church (nea is Greek for new) built on the east side of the Cardo Street in the southern part of Jerusalem. The Nea Church can be clearly seen on the Madaba Map. This 375 by 185 foot basilica, the largest church in Israel, was dedicated in 543. Justinians Roman court historian, Procopius, notes that this massive church was not built over a traditional holy site, so it was meant to serve some other purpose. It included a library, a monastery, a hospital and a hospice. Procopius says the structure was built with enormous cut stones on a huge platform, which was supported by large underground vaults. The roof was built of very tall cedars, and many large pillars illed the basilica. For several reasons, it appears that Justinian believed he was building a new Temple to replace Solomons and Herods. It is highly probably that the Nea Church was built to hold the Temple treasures taken from Herods Temple by the Romans in 70 AD. The Arch of Titus, located in Rome southeast of the Roman Forum, commemorates Titus' victory over the Jews and the end of the 66-70 AD Jewish revolt. This triumphal arch was built in 82 AD. The modern importance of this arch is in the engraving found on the inside which shows the Temple treasures being carried into Rome by Roman soldiers after their destruction of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The image clearly shows the golden Table of Showbread, the golden Candle Stand, and the trumpets used by the priests. Many other items from the Temple can also be assumed to have made it to Rome. It seems these Temple treasures were taken from Rome by the Vandals but recaptured by the Romans of the Byzantine Empire and taken to Constantinople. The Temple treasures portrayed on the Arch of Titus may have ended up stored in the Nea Church by Justinian. (Photo by Bill Wallander)
The inscription above the Arch of Titus reads: SENATUS POPULUSQUE-ROMANUS DIVO-TITO-DIVI-VESPASIANI-F VESPASIANO-AUGUSTO This translates as: The Senate And People of Rome (dedicate this to) The Divine Titus, Son of Divine Vespasian, Vespasianus Augustus Titus full name is Titus Vespasianus Augustus. This monument was credited to the Senate and People of Rome and was constructed shortly after Titus death at the hand of his brother Emperor Domitian. (Photo by Bill Wallander)

The Arch of Titus was built in Rome in 82 AD to commemorate the Roman victory over the Jews. It is clear from the images on the Arch that the Golden Candle Stand, the Table of Showbread, and trumpets from the Temple were carried into Rome. Josephus himself testiies to this fact in his book, Wars of the Jews, book 7, chapter 5: After these triumphs were over, and after the affairs of the Romans were settled on the surest foundations, Vespasian resolved to build a Temple to Peace, which was inished in so short a time, and in so glorious a manner, as was beyond all human expectation and opinion: for he having now by Providence a vast quantity of wealth, besides what he had formerly gained in his other exploits, he had this temple adorned with pictures and statues; for in this temple were collected and deposited all such rarities as men aforetime used to wander all over the habitable world to see, when they had a desire to see one of them after another; he also laid up therein those golden vessels and instruments that were taken out of the Jewish temple, as ensigns of his glory. But still he gave order that they should lay up their Law, and the purple veils of the holy place, in the royal palace itself, and keep them there.
A close up of the triumphal procession. Notice the Candle Stand and the two trumpets which form an X over the Table of Showbread as the Romans carry them into Rome. (Photo by Bill Wallander)
The Golden Lamp Stand from Herod's Temple of 70 AD.
Images from the inside of the Arch of Titus showing the Roman triumphal procession into Rome with the Temple Treasures. (Photo by Bill Wallander)
Above photos by Bill Wallander
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The Temple treasures were kept in Rome until Rome fell to the Vandals. The Vandals were in turn defeated by the Byzantine Empire, which recovered the Temple treasures and took them to Constantinople. During the triumphal procession through Constantinople with the captives and goods taken from the Vandals, the Jewish Temple treasures where seen among the booty. Procopius records these events of his own day in History of the Wars, book IV, chapter 9:6-9: . . . among these were the treasures of the Jews, which Titus, the son of Vespasian, together with certain others, had brought to Rome after the capture of Jerusalem. And one of the Jews, seeing these things, approached one of those known to the emperor and said: "These treasures I think it inexpedient to carry into the palace in Byzantium. Indeed, it is not possible for them to be elsewhere than in the place where Solomon, the king of the Jews, formerly placed them. For it is because of these that Gizeric captured the palace of the Romans, and that now the Roman army has captured that the Vandals." When this had been brought to the ears of the Emperor (Justinian), he became afraid and quickly sent everything to the sanctuaries of the Christians in Jerusalem. Forty-nine years after the death of Justinian and seventy years after the dedication of the Nea Church the Persians captured Jerusalem with help from their Jewish allies. The Nea Church was plundered in 614 by the Jews and Persians. History records that all churches in Israel at this time, with the exception of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, were burnt by the Persian invaders and their Jewish allies. The fact that these churches were plundered is conirmed by the fact that the Persians captured what the Christians thought was the True Cross from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It would appear then that the Temple treasures taken to Rome by Titus in 70 AD and returned to Jerusalem by Justinian in 534 were possibly taken back by the Jews in 614 from the Nea Church. After the fall of Jerusalem to the Persians in 614 we lose track of the Temple treasures. What happened to them? Were the Jews silent about their re-discovered Temple treasure? Were the Temple treasures carried away by the Persians? Maybe melted down? Or, were they never located nor removed from their hidden compartments in the lower regions of the Nea Church? Are they still there today? By 617, only three years after victory, the Persians betrayed their Jewish allies by expelling them from A diagram of the Nea Church. The three or four portions of remains that are visible today are marked with angled, parallel lines. Jerusalem and returning Jerusalem to the Christian control of the Byzantine Empire. (Note that the Persian invasion of 614 was not associated with Islam, since it was not until 622 that Mohammed began to spread his new religion. By 626 Mohammed began slaughtering the Jews of Medina, and the Muslim faith began to spread. Muslim war and conquest would arrive in Jerusalem in 638, a mere 21 years after the Persians restored it to the Christians.) Although plundered and burnt, we know that the remains of the Nea Church continued to stand for several centuries, since it was described by pilgrim writers as still in use in 634 and 808. In fact, in 870 a monk stayed in what was called Charlemagnes rebuilt Nea Church.
Photo of the outside the southeast corner of the Nea Church, which contains the southern apse of the church on the inside. The current city wall runs on top of the Nea Church, as can be seen in this photo.
The Nea church survives to a height of 26 feet, with walls that are over 20 feet thick. About 45 of the original 375 feet of wall still remain.
Inside the Nea Church. This photo shows the southern apse in the southeast corner.
Looking northwest at the southeast corner of the Nea Church. There are six huge vaulted halls over 30 feet high under the remains of this church. Charles Warren entered and drew these vaults in 1867. An inscription has been found that reads:
And this is the work which was carried out by the generosity of our most gracious Emperor Flavius Justinian, under the care and devotion of the most holy Constatinos, priest and in the year 534/35.
An idea of how the Nea Church would have looked.
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Chapter 65
Al Aqsa Mosque (Muslim)

The El Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount is the third most holy site in Islam. Just like the Dome of the Rock was built to overshadow the rotunda of the Holy Sepulcher, the Al-Aqsa mosque was built to mimic the basilica over Calvary. The alignment of these two buildings completes the imitation of the Holy Sepulchers layout. Since the mosque stands on the south of the Temple Mount, the Crusaders considered it the remains of Solomons palace. Because of this, it served as the palace of the Latin kings of Jerusalem during the days of Crusader occupation. It was also given to the Order of the Knights Templar for their headquarters. The Al-Aqsa Mosque sits along the southern side of the Temple Mount on top of where Solomon's Porch stood. The tunnel and stairway leading to the Temple Mount surface from the Double Gate runs under the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The front of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque with the entrance to the stairway and tunnel to the Double Gate in the bottom left corner. When Jesus cleared the Temple of the money changers it would have happened in this general area, which at that time was Solomons Porch.
These stairs lead down to a tunnel that connects to the Double Gate. This would have been used in New Testament times for accessing and exiting the Temple Mount.
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Chapter 66
Dome of the Rock (Muslim)
The Dome of the Rock is also called Qubbat Al-Sakhra. Caliph Abd al-Malik began construction on this building in 688 and inished it in 691 AD. 1300 years of tradition and recent archaeological evidence strongly suggests that the Dome of the Rock sets on the site of the destroyed Jewish Temple and Most Holy Place. This is the oldest existing Islamic building in the world. It is an imitation of a Byzantine martyrium, which was an octagonal-shaped structure for honoring or preserving the relics of saints/martyrs. On the right side of the photo, about half of the Dome of the Chain is also visible. This would be in the general area of the Altar of Burnt Offerings. (In this photo, east is toward the right.) The construction of the Dome of the Rock was completed 1300 years ago in 691 by Caliph Abd alMalik. It was designed to be a visual rival of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which was the religious focus of the city when the Arabs conquered Jerusalem in 638. The golden dome is 66 feet in diameter.
With the Dome of the Rock in the center, the two grey domes of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher can be seen slightly to the left of the Dome of the Rock in the Jerusalem skyline (in the upper right quadrant of this photo).

When the Muslims took the city of Jerusalem in 638 they realized the importance and impressiveness the Church of the Holy Sepulcher had inside the city. The Church had become the center of the city. The Arab historian Muqaddasi wrote in 985: is it not evident that Abd al-Malik, seeing the greatness of the martyrium of the Holy Sepulcher and its magniicence was moved lest it should dazzle the minds of the Muslims and hence erected above the Rock the dome which is now seen there? The grey domes of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher were copied by the builders of the Dome of the Rock, but were then covered in a golden color to show visitors the superiority of Islam. The Dome was built over the site of the Jewish temple for the same reason. In fact, from the day the Dome of the Rock was built, it has been seen by Muslims as a replacement of the Jewish Temple on the very site of the temples built by Solomon, Zerubbabel and Herod. The octagonal structure of the Dome of the Rock also mimics the shape that early Christians used to encircle and enshrine important holy sites. The remains of an ancient octagonal church built over the house of Peter in Capernaum are an example of this. Inside the Dome of the Rock is an inscription in Arabic script from 691-692 that runs almost 800 feet in a narrow path around the octagonal walls as a form of Islamic artwork. This inscription reads: O you People of the Book, overstep not bounds in your religion, and of God speak only the truth. The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, is only an apostle of God, and his Word which he conveyed unto Mary, and a Spirit proceeding from him. Believe therefore in God and his apostles, and say not Three. It will be better for you. God is only one God. Far be it from his glory that he should have a son. Some say it was from this rock that Muhammad ascended to heaven on a horse with the angel Gabriel. But, this is a 12th century tradition developed from a dream that involved Muhammads night journey, as described in the Koran in Sura 17:1: Most gloriied is the One who summoned His servant (Muhammad) during the night, from the Sacred Masjid (of Mecca) to the farthest place of prostration, whose surroundings we have blessed, in order to show him some of our signs. He is the Hearer, the Seer. But, Jerusalem is not mentioned in this passage, nor is Jerusalem ever mentioned anywhere in the Koran. The Dome of the Rock was built 200 years before this tradition began to be told, so although this is the reason given for where it was built, that cannot be right.
Looking southeast at the Dome of the Rock. The dome on the far right is the Dome of Ascension where early Muslim tradition says Muhammad ascended into heaven. Today the Muslim claim has changed to say he ascended from the rock under the Dome of the Rock. The dome on the left of the photo is the Dome of the Chain, which is where the Altar of Burnt Offering was located, in front of the Jewish Temple. The other smaller domes and small rock structures are wells leading down to some of the many cisterns under the Temple Mount.
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The Dome of the Rock is octagonal and covered with black, red and cream colored marble inlays. Glazed tiles of royal blue, white, yellow and green cover the upper portion of the walls. There are long quotes from the Koran written all around the outside of the building. The inside glimmers with polished marble, stainedglass windows, golden mosaics and woodwork. Two series of arches supported by columns, called arcades, enclose the rock mass that is the top of the original Mount Moriah in the center of the building.
Detail of the tile and Arabic script on the outside surface of the Dome of the Rock.

When you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars all the heavenly array do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. - Deuteronomy 4:19 In both courts of the temple of the Lord, Manasseh built altars to all the starry hosts. He sacriiced his own son in the ire, practiced sorcery and divination and consulted mediums and spiritists. - 2 Kings 21:5 Josiah did away with the pagan priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts. - 2 Kings 23:5 It is interesting to speculate how and when the Lord will deal with and remove this 1300-year-old pagan shrine that is on the very spot where he put his name. The moon on the top of the Dome of the Rock is aligned so that if you look through it, you will look straight toward Mecca, the seat of the Black Stone. The Black Stone is an irregular 10 by 12 inch oval that, according to Muslim tradition, fell from Heaven. Scientists at the University of Copenhagen, while differing on the meaning of it, agree that it came from the sky. In 1980 they hypothesized that the Black Stone is glass formed by the impact of a meteorite that fell 6,000 years ago. The meteorite would have been destroyed on impact, creating a crater of silica glass that was fused into the stone by the heat of impact. Interestingly, a site in the desert 680 miles east of Mecca along an ancient caravan route is known for its craters and other blocks of silica glass just like the Black Stone. A crescent moon whose tips touch, creating a full moon, sets atop the dome of the Dome of the Rock. The moon is a traditional symbol of the moon-gods throughout the ancient Middle East throughout history. The Sumerians worshipped the moon-god named Sin whose symbol was the crescent moon. The temple of Sin has been excavated in Abrahams old city of Ur. YHWH told Abraham to leave his culture, his land and his family who were worshippers of this pagan moon-god (Genesis 12:1; Joshua 24:2). Throughout the Old Testament worship of the moon-god and other heavenly hosts is forbidden and met with judgment: The tradition of the Black Stone reaches far back into the ancient history of the Middle East. It is said to have fallen from Heaven to show Adam and Eve where to worship, but was lost during the Flood of Noah. It was later rediscovered when an angel revealed it to Abraham, who then ordered his son Ishmael to build a temple on the site where it had landed. The temple that Ishmael built was called Kaaba, and the Black Stone was embedded into one of its walls. The Black Stone, fallen from the starry hosts of heaven, had already been worshipped for centuries before the days of Muhammad. Tradition says that
The dome on the Dome of the Rock was covered with an aluminum and bronze alloy in 1960. In 1998 it was covered with 176 pounds of gold (the value in 2010 dollars was $3,043,087) that was donated by King Hussein of Jordan. The diameter of this dome is 66 feet compared to the 69.5 foot width of the dome on the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which the builders attempted to imitate. This dome is 67 feet high, and the dome of the Holy Sepulcher rises 69 feet.
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during reconstruction of the Kaaba temple in 602 AD, Muhammad himself helped reset the Black Stone in place before he ever received any revelations from Allah and long before writing the Koran. It should be noted that the Kaaba temple was not originally a Muslim site. Long before Islam even existed, a moon-god named Al-ilah (in Arabic, al means the and ilah, means deity) was worshipped there by the pre-Islamic pagans of Arabia. This moon-god, Allah, was the chief god honored at this time in Mecca. Worship of the Black Stone was part of the ancient Middle Eastern worship of starry hosts that is condemned in the Jewish and Christian scriptures. Yet strangely, according to Sura 22:26-37, Mohammed required that every Muslim make a pilgrimage to see the stone at least once in his lifetime. Even now, Muslims touch and kiss the Black Stone as part of their worship in Mecca. In Judges 8:21, which took place around 1200 BC, Gideon is recorded as killing the leaders of the Midianites who had invaded the land of Israel from the eastern desert. Notice that the symbol of the moongod, the crescent, was present even then: Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise yourself and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels. -Judges 8:21, ESV Psalm 83 uses Zebah and Zalmunna as an example of Gods judgment: O God, do not keep silent; be not quiet, O God, be not still. See how your enemies are astir, how your foes rear their heads. With cunning they conspire against your people; they plot against those you cherish. Come, they say, let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more. With one mind they plot together; they form an alliance against you the tents of Edom (Jordan), and the Ishmaeliltes (Saudi Arabia), of Moab (Jordan) and the Hagrites (Saudi Arabia or Syria), Gebal (Lebanon), Ammon (Jordan) and Amalek (Saudi Arabia), Philistia (Gaza Strip), with the people of Tyre (Lebanon). Even Assyria (Syria, Iraq, part of Iran and Turkey) has joined them to lend strength to the descendants of Lot (Jordan). Do to them as you did to Midian, as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon, who perished at Endor and became like refuse on the ground. Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna, who said, Let us take possession of the pasturelands of God. ...Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord (YHWH) that you alone are the Most High over all the earth. - Psalm 83:1-12, 18 In 445 BC (Nehemiah 2:19), one of Israels enemies was Sanballat of Samaria. Sanballats name itself attests to the fact that, 1) the moon-god was worshipped at that time, and 2) the moon-god was associated with the name Allah. The name Sanballat comes from San or Sin, which is the name of the moon-god combined with Allat, the feminine form of Allah and the name of one of the moon-gods three daughters. The worship of the moon-god, the crescent moon symbol, the city of Mecca, the Black Stone that fell from Heaven, and the name of Allah had all been part of pagan worship in the Middle East for at least 2,000 years before Muhammad arrived on the scene. The fact that there is a crescent moon forming a circle at the top of the Dome of the Rock drawing attention to Mecca where Muslims are required by Muhammad to visit the Black Stone of the ancient moon-god is no coincidence. Important questions remain as to how all this will be tied together for the Jews return to the Temple Mount, for Gods judgment of the nations, and for the ultimate restoration of the Jewish nation.
Chapter 67
Muslim Temple Mount: Al-Haram al-Sharif, or The Nobel Sanctuary (Muslim)

The Temple Mount is known in Jewish tradition as Beth Yahweh or House of Yahweh Gods dwelling place on earth. Jews, Christians and Muslims traditionally believe that Solomon built his temple on the Temple Mount, and according to tradition (not scripture) that Adam is buried on the Temple Mount. In 2007, after a landslide two years before made the earthen ramp leading to the Mugrabi Gate unsafe and in danger of collapse, the Israel Antiquities Authority started work on the construction of a temporary wooden pedestrian pathway to the Temple Mount. The ramp to the Mugrabi Gate (Morocco Gate) is to the right in this photo. Before the Jews excavated the Western Wall and removed the dirt built up over time, the gate was at ground level.
Toni ascends the wooden ramp over the Western Wall up to the Morocco Gate, which is the only entrance to the Temple Mount for non-Muslims.
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above the lintel of the gate. A new gate called Bab al-Magharbeh was installed in the Western Wall above the level of the Barclay Gate. The local residents of this part of Jerusalem at that time had come from Morocco, so the gate was named for them. This gate remains open today. It is the only entrance to the Temple Mount non-Muslims are allowed to use.
The Arabic and English sign for the Morocco Gate is posted in painted tile.
A view of the southern wall of the Temple Mount with the Cup fountain behind and the Al-Aqsa Mosque to the right. Notice the pavement stones. Herods Temple Mount stones are about 3 feet below these.
The Time Between 70 AD and 638 AD

When the Muslims conquered Jerusalem in 638 there were no buildings on the Temple Mount to destroy. The Christians had left the Temple Mount in ruins, and had even used it as a garbage dump. The temple was completely destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, but they found it too dificult to dismantle the entire massive stone wall enclosing the Temple Mount. In 132-135 AD, after their second revolt against Rome, the Jews may have attempted to rebuild the Temple. In 135 Hadrian built a temple to Jupiter on the Temple Mount along with two statues of Roman emperors. In 363 the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate gave the Jews permission to rebuild their temple. He did this to spite the Christians. However, the Jews did not get far, since Julian died in battle against the Persians that same year. Ammianus Marcellinus, a friend of Julian wrote: Julian thought to rebuild at an extravagant expense the proud Temple once at Jerusalem, and committed this task to Alypius of Antioch. Alypius set vigorously to work, and was seconded by the governor of the province; when fearful balls of ire, breaking out near the foundations, continued their attacks, till the workmen, after repeated scorching, could approach no more: and he gave up the attempt.
This is the layout of the 35 acres on the Temple Mount today. The Muslims call this The Noble Sanctuary, or Al-Haram al-Sharif. Today the Dome of the Rock sets where the Jewish Temple used to be, and the Dome of the Chain where the Altar of Burnt Offering was. The Morocco Gate (also, Mugrabi Gate and Gate of the Moors or in Arabic Bab al-Magharbeh, and in Hebrew: Shaar HaMughrabim) is located on the Western Wall. Barclay's Gate was covered up over time as the ground outside the Temple Mount rose

The earthquake in Galilee in 363, sabotage, an accidental ire, and a lack of Jewish commitment to the project may have been the real reasons it was abandoned. Of course, the death of Julian and the possibility of Divine intervention were also heavy factors leading to the end of the Temple building in 363. From 363 until 638 there was no building activity on the Temple Mount under the Christian emperors of Rome or Byzantium.
Looking east at the southeast corner of the Temple Mount. The Mount of Olives is in the background. Solomon's Stables are directly below. The Triple Gate is to the right and down (on the other side of the wall).
This photo was taken standing against the southern wall of the Temple Mount between the Double Gate and the Triple Gate, looking north-northwest. The AlAqsa Mosque is on the left, and the Dome of the Rock is in front and to the right of center. When the Muslims took the city of Jerusalem from the Christians in 638 AD, the Caliph Omar was given a tour of the city by the patriarch of Jerusalem, a Christian monk named Sophronius. Omar wanted to see the spot where the Jewish Temple had been. For six centuries the Christians had let the Temple Mount lie in ruins in order to fulill Jesus words that there will not be left here one stone upon another. In fact, they used it as a garbage dump. A simple wooden sanctuary was built south of the Jewish Temple, and around 660 a house of prayer was built on the Temple Mount at the blessed site where the Temple stood. According to the writings of Arculf, a Christian visitor to Jerusalem from 679-688, the Muslims had built an oblong house of prayer, which they pieced together with upright planks and large beams over some ruins at that famous place where once there stood the magniicent Temple. In the minds of the early Muslims (and as recorded in their writings), the buildings they eventually built on the Temple Mount constituted the restoration of the Jewish site. The Dome of the Rock was the Muslim version of the Temple restored. It competed with the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and with the shrines in Mecca and Medina of internal Muslim political opponents.
This photo was taken from the southeast corner of the Temple Mount wall looking west. Toni is walking toward the southern wall. The Al-Aqsa Mosque with its dome is the building in the center of the photo. Notice the wide open space, but also the trees to the right. In certain places on the Temple Mount there are many trees, including both older trees and newly planted ones.
Standing in the southeast corner of the Temple Mount looking northwest at the Dome of the Rock.
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Both Jewish and Muslim tradition says that Mount Moriah is Eden and that the rivers of Eden low beneath the Temple Mount. The book of Jubilees, which was written in the 100s BC and was considered authoritative scripture by the Dead Sea community, says: The Garden of Eden was the Holy of Holies and the dwelling of the Lord. - Jubilees 8:19 The inside of Solomons Temple was illed with engraved trees: Around all the walls of the house he carved engraved igures of cherubim and palm trees and open lowers, in the inner and outer rooms. - 1 Kings 6:29 The interior of the Dome of the Rock also includes mosaics with tree, foliage, bush, jewel and loral motifs. Hershel Shanks records in his book Jerusalems Temple Mount: Yassar Arafat told the American negotiator Dennis Ross, and others, that even if Herods Temple did exist, it was not in Jerusalem, but in Nablus, a city about 30 miles north of Jerusalem. Arafat was referring to the Samaritan Temple on Mt. Gerizim (in Nablus). Arafat admitted to President Clinton at Camp David that his faith forbade him from recognizing the existence of the Jewish Temple saying, I am a religious man and will not allow it to be written of me [in history] that I have ...conirmed the existence of the so-called temple underneath the mountain. But Arafat did admit the existence of Herods Temple when he said: The Jews have no claim to the whole area of the Haram al-Sharif. They [the Israelis} excavated everywhere and they didnt ind a single stone from the Temple [of Solomon], just some stones from the Temple of Herod. (Jerusalems Temple Mount: From Solomon to the Golden Dome, by Hershel Shanks, The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc., 2007, page 3.)
Standing to the north of the Dome of the Rock looking south through the trees.
Beginning in 1996 the Muslim Waqf (the Muslim group that is charged with overseeing the Temple Mount) began working on and under the Temple Mount to create this large stairway down into what the Crusaders called "Solomon's Stables". There was no archaeological oversight of this enormous project, although much ancient soil and all its archaeological remains were removed with bulldozers and other types of heavy equipment. Looking west between the Dome of the Rock on the left and the northern wall on the right.
The Muslims claim that there is an ancient mosque in Solomon's Stables on the other side (right/south) of the large arched doors at the bottom of the staircase. While it is not an ancient mosque, by the time the illegal and unauthorized construction was done, it did house the Marwani Musalla Mosque, which can hold up to 7,000 people. The excavated area that we see in this photo is 18,000 square feet large and 36 feet deep. In 2001, Israeli police watched bulldozers destroy ancient structures. The archaeological soil was removed in hundreds of truck loads and dumped into in the Kidron Valley. There are reports that remains from the 700s BC and from the Solomons Temple, Hasmonean symbols, decorated Temple stones with ancient Hebrew inscriptions, and innumerable potsherds and pottery from both Herods Temple and the Roman period were uncovered during these destructive digs on the Temple Mount.
A supply pile of construction material still lies outside the fence near the new staircase down into the new mosque.
This photo was taken on the Muslim platform where the Dome of the Rock stands. The Herodian pavement is about 3 feet below this pavement. This view is looking north toward where the eastern courtyard of the Temple would have been. The Mount of Olives is to the right (east). To the left on the edge of the photo, where the columns of the Dome of the Chain are seen, is where the activities of Israels Altar of Burnt Offering would have occurred. The Temple, now the Dome of the Rock, is a little further to the left of this photo.
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A view looking over the Kidron Valley at the Mount of Olives from the Temple Mount platform a few feet in front of the location of the Altar of Burnt Offering. The Red Heifer was sacriiced on the summit of the Mount Olives, so the High Priest who offered that sacriice could have looked directly into the Temple. The Temple would be directly behind me when I took this photo.
Inside the Golden Gate, or Eastern Gate. This photo is looking east. Notice that if the Gates were not blocked, a person entering would have to ascend a stairway to reach the ground level of the Temple Mount.
El Kas, or The Cup, used for Muslim puriication. It is in front of Al-Aqsa (in the background) and the Dome of the Rock.
A close up of the inside of the blocked Golden Gate on the east side of the Temple Mount.

The Dome of Ascension (Qubbat al-Miraj) was built to the northwest of the Dome of Rock, on the same platform. It was built before the Crusaders arrived and is mentioned in documents dating from 903 AD. The current Dome of Ascension was rebuilt in 1200 AD using Crusader material. It is claimed to be the place from which Muhammad ascended to Heaven. Even early Muslim writings clearly indicate that the spot marked by the Dome of Ascension was believed to be the original spot of Muhammads legendary ascent into heaven. In more recent times, however, the location of Muhammads ascension to heaven has been moved inside in the Dome of the Rock in order to establish a Muslim claim of holiness to the location marked by the Dome of the Rock. Previously, the Muslims had claimed the rock under the Dome was the location of the Ark of the Covenant kept inside the Most Holy Place of Solomons Temple.The inscriptions above the columns inside the Dome of the Rock make no mention of Muhammad ascending from the rock beneath the Dome of the Rock, nor do they mention the night journey of Sura 17:1. The Dome of the Rock was built over the rock that was the apex of Mount Moriah (Moriah means Yahweh is seen [here]). It is the place where Solomon built his temple, according to 2 Chronicles 3:1: The northwest stairs that take people up to the Muslim platform from the ground level of the Temple Mount. Notice, as mentioned earlier, the bottom row of steps that are the same level as the Temple Mount pavement stones. This is the outside of the Western Wall of the Temple Mount of the Old Testament and of the Hasmoneans. It is not running in a straight line with the Muslim platform seen in the background. Solomon began to build the House of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah. - 2 Chronicles 3:1
These are the northwest steps from the Temple Mount pavement up to the Muslim platform. The small dome at the top of the stairs is the Dome of Ascension. This is where Muhammads legendary ascent into Heaven supposedly began.
The Dome of Ascension as viewed from westnorthwest looking east-southeast. According to early Muslim tradition Muhammad ascended into heaven from here. The Mount of Olives is in the background, and the edge of the Dome of the Chain is in the middle of the right edge of this photo.
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The bedrock of Mount Moriah can be seen under the Dome of the Ascension. This is what the bedrock covered by the Dome of the Rock looks like. Some theories regarding the location of the Temple of Solomon place the Holy of Holies right here. But according to tradition, scripture and archaeology, the Holy of Holies was most likely under the Dome of the Rock.
This is the Ablution Gate, or Bab al-Matarah, which is located on the west side of the Temple Mount and leads into the Muslim Quarter of the city. Directly behind me when I took this photo was the stairway seen in the next photo that leads up to the west side of the Dome of the Rock.

Several Temple Mount gates are currently open: 1. Gate of the Tribes (Bab al-Asbat) - northeast corner 2. Gate of Remission (Bab al-Huttah) - north side 3. Gate of Darkness (Bab al-Atim) - north side 4. Gate of Bani Ghanim (Bab al-Ghawanima) northwest corner 5. Council Gate/Inspector's Gate (Bab al-Nazer) - west side 6. Iron Gate (Bab al-Hadid) - west side near the "Little Western Wall" 7. Cotton Merchant's Gate (Bab al- Qattanin) - the Dome of the Rock can be viewed through this gate on the west side 8. Ablution Gate (Bab al-Matarah) - west side 9. Tranquility Gate (Bab al-Salam) - west side 10. Chain Gate (Bab al-Silsileh) - west side and may be the Kiponos Gate from Herod's temple which is one of four gates on the west side of the Temple Mount mentioned by Josephus. 11. Mugrabi Gate (Bab al-Magharbeh) - west side; used by non-Muslims These six gates of the Temple Mount are sealed closed: Golden Gate (Bab al-Zahabi) - east side; built around 520 by Justinian I on top of the ruins of the original Eastern Gate Single Gate - south side; once led under the Temple Mount Huldah Gates (Bab al-Thulathe) - south side; the Huldah Gates are two sets of gates (the Double Gate, which is partially blocked by a Crusader tower and used to lead to the Temple Mount, and the Triple Gate which also led to steps leading to the surface of the Temple Mount) Barclay's Gate - a gate from Herod's temple (aka, the Coponius' Gate) located under the Mugrabi Gate Warren's Gate - a gate from the time of Herod's temple that led to a stairway that led to the surface of the Temple Mount
A staircase leading up to the Dome of the Rock from the west side, with the Ablution Gate (Bab al-Matarah) behind.
Along the western wall of the Temple Mount on the inside looking south.
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Chapter 68
St. Annes Church (Crusader)

Saint Annes Church was built by the Crusaders, the Roman Catholic Christian Europeans who came to deliver Jerusalem from the hands of the Muslims. The church of St. Anne was built between 1131 and 1138 over the traditional site of the home of Jesus grandparents (Anne and Joachim, Marys parents). According to Roman Catholic tradition, Mary was born on this site. Tradition also says that Anne and her husband had no children until Anne turned to God in prayer. Mary, Jesus mother, was then conceived and came into existence without any stain of human sin. This is the known as the Immaculate Conception. The reason this church is particularly noteworthy does not have anything to do with the legends of Anne or Mary, but that it is one of the few remaining Crusader buildings still retaining the original construction. One of the main reasons this church exists yet today and was not destroyed when Muslims recaptured Jerusalem in 1189, is because in 1192 Saladin converted it into a Muslim theological school. The church, or school, continued to be used until about 1500 before it was abandoned. By 1856 it was falling apart. The Ottomans gave the church to France as a token of appreciation for the help the Ottoman Turks received during the Crimean War, and the church was restored to its original condition. Because of this, what we see today is basically what the Crusaders built. This fact is even more amazing when one compares it to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which is also a Crusader church but cluttered with 800 years worth of tradition, relics and paraphernalia. The Crusaders designed the churchs acoustics to compliment the singing of Gregorian chants, so that even today the sound of a group singing the simplest hymn is enchanting. This church is right beside the Pool of Bethesda, just inside the Lions Gate in the Muslim Quarter. Today, St. Annes is a Greek Catholic Church.
This church dedicated to St. Anne preserves the original design and construction of a Crusader church built in 1138 AD. On the right corner of the church is the Bell tower.
The facade of the Crusader church dedicated to St. Anne. In front of the church is a potted plant setting on the opening of a cistern that gives access to water below.
The windows and arch on the front of the church. The arch reaching a point at the top makes it a typical Crusader style arch. Note that Saladins 1192 inscription is under the arch.
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The Arabic inscription of Saladin from July 25, 1192 is just above the door. It commemorates the conversion of this church into a Muslim theological school just 54 years after the Crusaders inished building it.
A close up of the altar of St. Annes, the Crusader church.
The Crusader-style domed ceiling inside St. Anne's Church. Looking at the altar at the front, on the inside of the church.
A window covering in the church that is almost 900 years old.
Chapter 69
Sultans Pool (Herodian, Roman and Muslim)

A lat area in the Hinnom Valley west of the Old City, which today is known as Sultans Pool, was likely a hippodrome for racing chariots In Herods day. It was later made into a water reservoir during the Roman and Byzantine periods, by means of a dam that was constructed in the Valley of Hinnom on the south side of the Hippodrome. The pool is about 220 feet wide and 550 feet long. It collected rainwater and overlow from the older Herodian aqueduct that approached the pool from the west and looped around the north side before it entered the city. The Ottoman sultans rebuilt the walls of the dam in the 1380s and again 1536. Today, as seen in the photos below, Sultans Pool is home to concerts and festivals.
Looking down from the west side of the Old City at Sultans Pool. To the left (south) behind the bleachers is the ancient dam that held the water. Today this site that was used for sporting events in Herods day is again a place for entertainment - concerts and other open air shows.
Looking west at Sultan's Pool. On the far side, the Herodian aqueduct from Bethlehem approaches the pool and turns right (north) before turning back west to enter the city. The pool sets in the bottom of the Hinnom Valley with a dam built across the south end (just off the left end of this photo). During the time of Herod this area may have been the hippodrome mentioned by Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, 15:8:1) and used for entertainment such as chariot races and horse races.
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Chapter 70
Citadel (Hasmonean, Herodian, Roman, Byzantine, Muslim, Crusader, Later Muslim)

On the west side of the Old City beside the Jaffa Gate are the remains of the Citadel, which served as a fortress to defend the northwest side of the ancient city of Jerusalem. The Hasmoneans were the irst to defend this western portion of the city with a wall around 150 BC. Herod built his royal palace and three towers (Hippicus, Phasael and Mariamne) here. Jesus stood before Herod Antipas in this citadel on the night he was betrayed. The Jewish revolt began here in 66 AD when Jewish rebels attacked and burnt the palace, and it was also the headquarters of the Tenth Roman Legion for 200 years after that revolt. The Crusaders and the Muslims used this location as well, rebuilding the towers and walls, and adding more of their own.
This is a model of the Citadel today.
This is a view looking south at the wall line used by the Hasmoneans when they originally enclosed this area. Herod then reinforced the wall and its towers. This line of wall continues south and connects with the wall that we see today (Suleimans Wall from 1535) that is just south of the tall Muslim mineret in the background.
A close up of a section of the wall built by the Hasmoneans around 150 BC.
Looking down at some of the residences that were built inside the citadel wall.
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A Hasmonean Tower that sat on the outside of the Hasmonean wall.
A view from the top of the Citadel looking south along the western wall of the Old City.
A corridor that runs around the top of a tower in the Citadel next to the Jaffa Gate. It dates from the 1500s and held archers and other defenders.
The so-called (and erroneously called) Tower of David is a Muslim minaret located in the Citadel. It is a familiar landmark and easily recognizable in Jerusalem.
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Section G
Chapter 71
A Treasure Map
This inal section is a collection of things that need to be highlighted since they shed light on the history of Jerusalem, but were not covered elsewhere in this book. This Roman column was set in place around 200 AD near the camp of the Tenth Roman Legion, which had been stationed in Jerusalem since 70 AD. Today this pillar is located in the Christian Quarter at an intersection of four covered streets, which is up a narrow road going north, just inside the Jaffa Gate. The inscription reads:
Marco Iunio Maximo Legato Augustorum Legionis X Fretensis C. Domitius Sergius Antoninianae Strator eius
The inscription on the column recognizes Marcus Iunius Maximus who was the governor of the province of Judea and commander of the Tenth Roman Legion. Marcus Maximus is identiied by two titles: 1. He is Legate of the Augusts (Legato Augustorum). Being a legate means he held the ofice of general in the Roman army and that he was from the senatorial class. In this case, he was also appointed as the Governor of Judea. 2. He is also the general and commander of the Tenth Roman Legion known as Legio X Fretensis, or Tenth Legion of the Sea Strait. This was the legion (about 4,500 men) organized by Augustus in 40 BC to ight during the Civil War against Marc Antony, who attempted to dissolve the Roman Republic. The symbol of the Tenth Legion of the Sea Strait was a bull, a ship, and the god Neptune. This Tenth Legion was stationed in Jerusalem for 200 years and is last recorded to exist around 410 AD. The emperor, or Augusts referred to in the phrase Legate of the Augusts would have been Septimius Severus. The column and inscription were erected by C. Domitius Sergius Honoratus, (C. Domitius Sergius Antoninianae in the ifth and sixth lines), one of Marcus Maximus aids.
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This is an Attic base of a Roman column next to the column above. The number 4 is inscribed on the second layer on the coved base as , which is the Greek letter Delta. The number indicates that this column base was the fourth in a row of columns. It has not yet been determined which building these columns belonged to.
A Roman column stands in the Batei Mahase Square with the arches of the Rothschild House (built in 1871) in the background. Scratched on the drum of this Ionic capital is the Roman numeral 9, written VIIII. The number 9 is a reference number engraved by the designers of the column to indicate to the builders where this column should be positioned. The placement of the number on the drum indicates that this portion of the column was positioned at the top of a column that could have been 30 feet tall.
The Roman inscribed Delta which represents the number 4. This would have been the fourth column in a series of columns.
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This Roman column from the reign of Vespasian (69-79 AD) and his son Titus (79-81 AD), was found built into the foundation of a Umayyad building constructed by the Muslims around 661-700 AD. This pillar mentions Vespasian, Titus, Lucius Flavius Silva (commander of the Tenth Legion from 73-80 AD), and the Tenth Legion itself. Notice the ifth line has been chiseled off to remove Lucius name. This column was probably originally part of the Cardo columns and was likely set in place by the Romans around 79 AD. The inscription and its translation are below.
The translation is: Imperator Caesar Vespasianus Augustus, Imperator Titus Caesar Vespasianus Augustus Filius [Lucius Flavius Silva legatus] Augusti pro praetore Legio X Fretensis
A Roman street game marked in the pavement of the Cardo in the Jewish Quarter. The square shapes cut inside of each other provided the playing spaces of a game used sometime after 135 AD.
The square Roman game on the original Cardo pavement stones.
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The original Cardo pavement is preserved in this photo with the Roman game board cut into the lower left stone of the original street .
An ancient wine press, or possibly a well that provided access to a cistern below, sets in the modern street of the Jewish Quarter as large planter for a tree.
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This is the view of what is called "Hezekiah's Pool" but is thought to be a reservoir from the time of Herod that received water from aqueducts that are still visible outside the Jaffa Gate. It also may have been a quarry outside the city where stones were cut for an Old Testament wall to the east of here. It is located in the Christian Quarter and in this photo is viewed from the Petra Hotel which is just inside the Jaffa Gate across from the Citadel. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is not in this photo but is just off the top edge. At one time the courtyard around the reservoir was encircled with inns and rest stops for travels and royal couriers. Today these buildings are workshops, and the pool is a rubbish dump. This site has never been excavated, but there are plans to do so in the future.
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An ossuary that was used to store the bones of the deceased after the body had decayed. The body would be laid in a tomb for about a year. At the end of that time, family members would return to collect the bones and place them in an ossuary. The box of bones would then be placed in a tomb along with the bones of other deceased family members. The burial chamber, or burial slab, could be used over and over through many generations since each body only remained on the slab until it had decomposed.
Ossuaries were placed in the front of a tomb. This photo shows a tomb from around the time of Jesus. The tombs of Old Testament times were cut in a slightly different way, and sometimes included a hole or opening under the burial bench where the bones would be placed. As each person died their bones would be collected from the burial bench and laid in the compartment underneath, along with those of their ancestors. In other words, the dead persons bones would be gathered and placed with the bones of their fathers. After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up ... Judges 2:10
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Chapter 72
The Future of Jerusalem

Israel lost their temple in 586 BC and were taken into Babylonian captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, just as Jeremiah had prophesied. In 539 BC, Cyrus of the Persians sent them back to Jerusalem to rebuild their Temple, just as Isaiah had prophesied. In 168 BC, Antiochus Epiphanies of the Greek Empire in Syria (the Seleucids) desecrated the temple and ended Jewish sacriices, but was resisted by Judas Maccabeus who then cleansed the Temple to restore the daily sacriice in 164 BC, just as Daniel had prophesied. In 70 AD Titus and the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, dismantled the Temple, and scattered the Jewish people, just as Jesus had prophesied. Since that time, history has seen almost 2,000 years of Gentile (Roman, Byzantine, Muslim, Crusader, Ottoman, British) domination of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, and the people of Israel themselves, just as Jesus told us would happen: This is the time of punishment in fulillment of all that has been written. There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulilled. - Jesus in Luke 21:22-24 This verse sums up well what all the photos, images and descriptions in this book testify to. What Jesus said would happen has been exactly the situation in Jerusalem from 70 AD until now. Even today, when Israel is again a nation, the Temple Mount continues to be trampled on by the Gentiles and their pagan religion. Today we watch Jerusalem, waiting for the Age of the Gentiles to be fulilled. Even though many of the words and set times spoken of by men like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Jesus, and others concerning Israel, Jerusalem, and the Temple have come to pass, many of their words are about days yet in the future. They spoke of events that have yet to be fulilled: a Temple that has not yet been built, sacriices that have not yet been restored, a whole generation of people who have not yet lived their lives. There is yet a future for Jerusalem that includes a Temple to the Lord on the Temple Mount and a Jerusalem illed with Jews who are the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Even prophets of the New Testament and members of the church age attest to this fact in scripture. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans concerning the future of Israel: I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! . . . Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring! . . . For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? Romans 11:1, 11, 12, 15 Why do we watch? Why do we wait? Because the fullness of Israel and their acceptance of Gods plan in Jesus the Messiah, will result in greater riches and life from the dead (that is, the resurrection into the Kingdom of God). So, what will happen between now and the time of the Jews national acceptance of Jesus spoken of in the book of Zechariah? I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look to me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child . . . On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. - Zechariah 12:10; 13:1
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Initially, after the Temple Mount is secured and the Temple of God is built, the Jews will resume their daily sacriices and embrace a national peace compelled by global events. They will believe that God has led them into a golden age of peace through their faithfulness, political pragmatism, and the recent appearance of key leaders in Israel and the world. This simulated peace will not last long, and its collapse will usher in the worst days the world has ever seen. This will all be done in preparation for the Lords return. Paul describes it this way: For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, Peace and safety, destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. - 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4 Daniel had predicted the events of 165 BC. He wrote centuries earlier about the days of the Macabbees, when Antiochus Epiphanes would set the altar of Zeus in the Temple, which was overlooked by the Akra fortress: His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacriice. They will set up the abomination that causes desolation. - Daniel 11:31 This is a photo of the Golden Candle Stand prepared by The Temple Institute speciically for use on the Temple Mount in the next Temple. All the furniture, utensils and clothing required for the operation of the Jewish Temple have been prepared by The Temple Institute and are ready to be moved to the Temple Mount when the time comes. This includes the recently completed stone altar that is waiting to be moved to the Temple Mount even before the Temple is built, so that sacriices may begin as soon as possible. First, the Temple of God will be rebuilt on the Temple Mount. This Temple will still be standing when Jesus returns, as Paul describes in 2 Thessalonians: He (the man of lawlessness from v.3) will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in Gods temple, proclaiming himself to be God . . . and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. - 2 Thessalonians 2:4, 8 Likewise, Daniel also spoke of a similar event for a future day, and Jesus conirmed it would happen. Once again in the future, the Jewish Temple sacriices will be interrupted and an image will be set up to deile the Temple, making it unclean for Jewish worship. First note that the words of Daniel describe this vile image, but also notice he mentions the unsuccessful peace that had seemingly been secured by a covenant: He will conirm a covenant with many for one seven. In the middle of the seven he will put an end to sacriice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. - Daniel 9:27
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Jesus understood these words to be yet in the future and connected them to his Second Coming in Matthew: So when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation spoken of through the prophet Daniel let the reader understand then let those who are in Judea lee to the mountains . . . For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now and never to be equaled again. - Matthew 24:15, 16, 21 This broken peace and the violation of the new Jewish Temple will bring back to the world age-old anti-Jewish sentiments that call for the destruction of the Jews. (I am compelled to point out that this has been the prevailing attitude throughout the ages - from the Pharaohs of Egypt, the Midianites and the Philistines, from Assyria, Babylon, Edom and the Seleucids. It was continued by the Romans of Titus day, and then again by Hadrian who believed he could end the Jewish presence in Jerusalem, and even on the earth. After the Romans, Jerusalem was overrun by Islam, which was followed by persecution and rejection from the Christian Crusaders. The Catholic inluence on the Reformers, combined with the Reformers own ignorance, led them to again renounce the Jews and discount them a place in eschatology. Instead of seeing what the scriptures say, the Reformers hubris inspired them to create an allegorical theology that replaced literal references to the Jews with an allegorical meaning of the saints - and the literal Jerusalem with the church. Even today the constant cry of the Muslim world is for the removal of the Jews from Israel and the return of Jerusalem to full Muslim control.) This wicked attitude is found to have again permeated the world in the inal chapter of Zechariah, and it will continue until it is ultimately dealt with by the Lord: I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to ight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. Then the Lord will go out and ight against those nations, as he ights in the day of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley . . . On that day living water will low out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, in the summer and in winter. The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name. The whole land, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up and remain in its place . . . It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure. - Zechariah 14:2-5, 8-10 Isaiah and Ezekiel also describe Jerusalem after Jesus return as a mountain that sets above all others: In the last days the mountain of the Lords temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths. The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. - Isaiah 2:2-3 In visions of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain on whose south side were some buildings that looked like a city. - Ezekiel 40:2 Ezekiel goes on to describe another new Temple that will be built in Jerusalem on this mountain (Ezekiel 40-47). It is in this Temple that the Lord, Jesus the Messiah, will rule during the true golden age of the Kingdom of God on earth. Jesus spoke of this time when he said: When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. - Matthew 25:31 In a vision of the future Ezekiel saw the Lord coming toward this Temple as he crossed the Kidron Valley from the Mount of Olives after having returned to earth: I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory. . . . The glory of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east. The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the Lord illed the temple. - Ezekiel 43:2-5
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Final Comments
From the very beginning Jerusalem has survived countless conquests and been home to many peoples. Now today, when we visit Jerusalem we stand at the crossroads of both history past and eternity future. The revelation of God's plan for Jerusalem began in the book of Genesis as it appeared in Abraham's life. Then, during the reign of David, the Lord began to use Jerusalem as his base of operations on earth. The Lord continued to use the city of Jerusalem, the people of Israel, and the Temple Mount on Mount Moriah throughout the days of the kings of Judah. Later, the Jews were removed from Jerusalem when God judged Israel by the Babylonian Empire, but he later restored them again to the city through Cyrus, king of Persia. Jerusalem was the setting for much of the ministry of Jesus Christ, and more importantly, Jerusalem was the site of Jesus' death, burial, resurrection and ascension. In days to come, Jerusalem will be the center of other great battles and will become the government seat of the coming Kingdom of God. The same scriptures that record Jerusalem's past also describe its glorious future when the Lord returns to redeem his people, restore the earth, and establish his kingdom. To stand in Jerusalem is to stand in the middle of history and gaze into the future.
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Bibliography
Bouirbon, Fabiio and Lavagno, Enrico. The Holy Land: Archaeological Guide to Israel, Sinai and Jordan. White Star, Vercelli, Italy, 2009. DK Eyewitness Travel Guides. Jerusalem and the Holy Land. DK Publishing, Inc, New York, 2002. Eck, Werner. Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol.33, No.5, Sep/Oct 2007. Hadrians Hard-Won Victory: Romans Suffer Severe Losses in Jewish War. Georgioui, Alexia. Insight Guides: Israel. Apa Publications GmbH and Co. Verlag KG, 2010. Mazar, Eilat. The Complete Guide to the Temple Mount Excavations. Shoham Academic Research and Publication, 2002 Mazar, Eilat. The Palace of King David: Excavations at the Summit of the City of David Preliminary Report of Seasons 2005-2007.Shoham Academic Research and Publication, Jerusalem, 2009. Mazar, Eilat. Preliminary Report on The City of David Excavations 2005. Shalem Press, Jerusalem, 2007. Murphy-OConnor, Jerome. The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide. Oxford University Press Inc., New York, 2008. Rasmussen, Carl G. Zondervan Atlas of the Bible Revised Edition. Zondervan, Michigan, 2010. Ritmeyer, Leen and Kathleen. Jerusalem in the Time of Nehemiah. Carta, Jerusalem, 2005. Ritmeyer, Leen and Kathleen. Jerusalem in the Year 30 AD. Carta, Jerusalem, 2004. Ritmeyer, Leen and Kathleen. The Ritual of the Temple in the Time of Christ. Carta, Jerusalem, 2002. Ritmeyer, Leen. The Quest: Revealing the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Carta, Jerusalem, 2006. Ritmeyer, Leen and Kathleen. Secrets of Jerusalems Temple Mount Updated and Enlarged Edition. Biblical Archaeology Society, Washington, DC, 2006. Ritmeyer, Kathleen and Leen. Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. XV No.6, Nov/Dec. 1989. Reconstructing Herods Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Schaff, Philip and Wace, Henry. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, vol.1, Eusebius: Church History, Life of Constantine the Great, and Oration in Praise of Constantine. Hendrickson Publishers, 1995. Shanks, Hershel. Jerusalem: An Archaeological Biography. Random House, Inc., New York, 1995. Shanks, Hershel. Jerusalems Temple Mount From Solomon to the Golden Dome. The Continuum International Publishing Group, London, 2007. Stern, Ephraim, Editor. The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, vol. 2. The Israel Exploration Society and Carta, Jerusalem, 1993. Taylor, Joan. Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol 34, No.1, Jan/Feb 2008, The Nea Church Were the Temple Treasures hidden Here? Wolff, Adrian. A Chronology of Israel. Israel, 2008. http://www.archpark.org The Jerusalem Archaeological Park http://www.bibleplaces.com/index.htm - BiblePlaces.com http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org Jewish Virtual Library http://www.holylandphotos.org Holy Land Photos by Dr. Carl Rasmussen http://blog.ritmeyer.com A blog by archaeologist Leen Ritmeyer http://www.templemount.org Lambert Dolphin http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org

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History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

This book is dedicated to my wife Toni. . .

Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

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Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

Section A: Introduction to Jerusalem

Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

Jerusalem after 135 AD

Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

IRON AGE (1200-539 BC)

BRONZE AGE (3300-1200 BC)

PERSIAN AGE (539-332 BC)

516 BC The second Temple, or Zerubbabel's

HELLENISTIC PERIOD (332-141 BC)

Figure 1 - The Royal Archives of Tel al-Amarna, Egypt, contained 350

701 - Al-Aqsa Mosue is completed by Caliph al

141 BC - The Maccabee family, called

HERODIAN PERIOD (37 BC - 70 AD)

40 BC - Herod the Great is appointed king in

ROMAN PERIOD (70-324)

132 - Second Jewish revolt against Rome

CRUSADER PERIOD (1099-1187)

AYYUBID PERIOD (1187-1250)

BYZANTINE PERIOD (324-638) 326 - Constantine's mother, Helena, visits

MAMLUK PERIOD (1250-1516)

FIRST MUSLIM PERIOD (638-1099)

OTTOMAN PERIOD (1517-1917)

1537 - Sultan Suleiman "the Magniicent" rebuilds

1948 - British Mandate and control of Jerusalem

MODERN PERIOD (1917-present)

1947 - United Nations Resolution recommending

70 AD - 325 AD 326 - 638 638 - 1099

1099 - 1187 1187 - 1917

1917 - 1948 1948 - present

Modern Jerusalems Old City

Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

A street in the Old City early in the morning.

Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

The Modern Walls

The Golden Gate in the east wall of the Old City.

Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

The West Wall of the Old City

Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

This is part of the Herodian wall built in 20 BC.

Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

The South Wall of the Old City

The Herodian Aqueduct (1) on the south wall.

Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

The Modern Gates

Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

The Golden Gate in the Eastern Wall.

Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture

Lions Gate (St. Stephens Gate)

Jerusalem History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture